If you have read all my post, you will know that my life quote is “Keep trying, that’s the only time you don’t fail.” Some of my friends said that they tried but the result always ended not well. What for keep on trying when you won’t get the result that you want. That’s when the time I say, that’s because “The Best is yet to come.”
That’s when the time I say, that’s because “The best is yet to come.”
You will never know what is going to happen in the next moment. You may become a millionaire just a blink of an eye. Who knows right?
Our all time favorite Japanese meals will be Chirashi Bowl – also called chirashizushi. The word “chirashi” means “scattered,” so this is primarily a big bowl of rice mixed with seafood especially fishes, vegetables, and additional ingredients of your choice. We love this dish a lot because it always filled with all our favorites in that delicious one-bowl meal. Therefore being inspired by the Chirashi Bowl, we decided to share the making of our version of Avocado Sushi Bowl with you.
If you’re in the mood of avocado, no raw fishes yet sushi, you will love this! There are almost no limits to what ingredients go in Chirashi, therefore, we adopted the idea and make our Avocado Sushi Bowl. There are many variations to the sushi bowl, let’s start with the rice. Traditionally sushi rice is used and the rice needs to be made ahead and cooled before using. So make sure you prepare the rice first!
Vegetables, seafood, prepared foods, fish roe, tsukemono (Japanese pickles,) and eggs of your choice. You can use a lot of things or just a few things. Remember that this is a versatile dish, so don’t worry if you can’t find a lot of the ingredients that I used.
We have been thinking, “what is a sushi bowl without wasabi?”, thus it is a must for us to have it. However just having the wasabi at the side make it taste dry. Therefore, we decided to make a Wasabi Mayonnaise Sauce for this recipe. This sauce is very easy to make. For above version, you will need 3 tbsp of Mayonnaise and also 1 tbsp of Wasabi. Mix them up and create the best sensation you will ever have. If you are a wasabi lover, add more of them to the mayonnaise. You will love it just like us.
Ingredients |
Sushi Rice:
2 cups of sushi rice – note, you can use brown short-grain rice if you want.
1 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp. sesame seed (optional)
Wasabi Mayonnaise Sauce:
3 tbsp of Mayonnaise
1 tbsp of Wasabi
Some topping suggestions:
Hard-boiled eggs
Umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum)
Seaweed
Sea Urchin
Mushroom
Sweet Beancurd Skin
Method |
Cook the rice and let stand for 10 minutes. Add to a bowl with the rice vinegar and mix well. Add the sesame seeds and the rice seasoning if you desire, and mix well.
Mix up the 2 ingredients for the sauce.
Done preparing all the ingredients that you need? Now you can serve them in a pretty small bowl and drizzle the sauce on it. 楽しんで!
We hope you like them! Share with us your version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
If you’re anything like me, dry hands and feet (and dry skin in general) is a problem for you. It is very important to use a body scrub. You scrub something that exfoliates and it removes dead skin and your skin looks and feels better.
However, we are alway sceptical about using it. Does we really need it? I think it was basically that the scrub was so expensive. Moreover it was being touted as being some kind of miracle. Like it was a previous concoction that would transform your life. Or at least it would transform the life of your hands and feet.
Well, I just loved how my hands felt and looked after rubbing that scrub all over my hands and rinsing it off. Smooth and revitalized and younger-looking. However, I didn’t like the price or the ingredients they have in the market. Totally not health, thus we decide to make our own version.
We all know the basic ingredients needed for a scrub Epsom salt and Baking Soda. But what makes this special is the simple yet delicated ingredients we have added.
Coconut milk is extracted from the meat of the coconut and is packed with vitamins. Not saying that it is very nourishing. The natural fatty acids in coconut milk can soothe irritated skin, which makes it a great remedy smoothed on a sunburn.
Karmakamet Lavender essential oil is one of my very favorites! This essential oil is steam distilled from the flowering tops. The fragrance of lavender is calming and relaxing.
Use whatever containers you like, provided you make them airtight. You could use repurposed Starbucks Frappucino bottles for a very cute (and smaller than the quart size) milk bottle containers. But if you don’t want to spend the cash on containers, just use clear plastic goodie bags. Be sure to add some kind of label so they know what they’re getting.
All in all, you’re not going to spend more than $2 or $3 per batch of milk bath (plus container), but you’ll need to buy the ingredients for more than one batch.
Ingredients |
1 cup Epsom salt
1 cup powdered coconut milk
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup lavender flowers
4 drops lavender essential oil
Method |
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Store in airtight containers. You can made them into bathbomb too! Just follow the method we used for Valentine’s Rosa Bathbomb. For bath, add 1/4 cup mixture to hot running water. Relax!
This will be a prefect gift and also for yourself to relax. We hope you like them! Share with us your version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
Title: Dear Sherman and AnAn Instagram’s account: @shermanthm @heavenlyplace
When will be my holiday? These days I have been questioning myself. I haven’t been away for a trip but I do have breaks! Especially yesterday I took a half day off from work went to my nephew’s place. He has been a charm to me and melts my heart. He’s just too lovely but super hyperactive that I have to admit I’m no longer young! Even so, it never stops me from visiting him soon.
While this week A Paint Portrait I would love share this charming couple that melts my heart as well. They are such a lovely couple to me! Months ago I proposed to work on #APaintPortarit, and Sherman agreed to participate in the project, he sent me tons of references and all shot featuring his girlfriend. I thought it was a sweet act of him, I believed when the portrait is out (which is today), the girlfriend would be quite surprised (why a stranger painted them).
I enjoyed both Sherman and An An Instagram as they love traveling together and make their breakfast! It seems the most simple of life but I thought many of us actually have taken for granted. That’s the reason why they always motivate me in my life. To me, Instagram is a community to know and learn from groups of people that shared same hobby or liking. Thus, from time to time the community has lost it track but there is where people like Sherman and An An still remain the same.
“You don’t need a lot to be happy”, that is what they show me through their way of life.
This week mood board I would love to introduce this charming Pale Dogwood! Anyway, who doesn’t always impressed with all the names and the colors from Pantone? As for me, I definitely do. They are just way beyond imaginative, the name of the colors just unprecedented. Sometimes, I wonder how does the team name these names!
Pale Dogwood is a quiet and peaceful pink shade. A soft touch infuses an aura of purity and conveys innocence. This color adds to the earthy tones we will be seeing this spring by adding a healthy glow.
From a purely aesthetic point of view, millennial pink is an easy color to look at and wear. It’s obviously not a bright pink. It’s not fuchsia. It has a certain innocence, it’s unobtrusive, it’s very subtle. There’s kind of a healthy glow that’s attached to shades of pink like that.
Credit | All shots used on the mood board via my Pinterest boards.
It’s been awhile since I post for #themooninsight. It’s been a hectic month for me, thus sorry for the missing. The past month I have been thinking a lot, about time managing and also on what I want to do. However, the first step for me is to say you can in order for me to continue my journey.
We tend to worry when we are lost or trying new things. As we are uncomfortable with the new environment, we try to avoid it. Staying in your comfort zone does not make your life stable. Only the keep on learning and improving do.
After weeks of indulging delicious food over the festival holidays, we decided to eat cleaner and give our stomach a healthier choice of food. So we decided to do some homemade granola bites. It is a great everyday snack and something good to grab on the go.
These no-bake granola bars would also make great “energy bites,” too, if you’d rather roll the dough between your palms to make one-inch balls. If you appreciate and like the Monster’s Krispie Rice, you’ll love these!
Here, you see chopped almonds, dried cranberries, and also raisins. The possibilities are endless — all you need to know is the base. Oats, butter, honey and brown sugar. After that, add what you like.
Even though all the steps sounds easy to make. However, there are points that you have take notes of too, as it does get wrong too.
After a few tries, we’ve found that it’s really important to press the granola mixture into the pan. We’ve actually spent about a minute pressing before — the harder and longer you press, the less chance you’ll end up with granola instead of granola bars.
The honey and brown sugar really helps with keeping the bars together. We add some to the granola mixture while it is still warm.
Finally, we like to refrigerate the granola mixture for about 2 hours. This hardens everything and makes it easy to cut the granola mixture into bars. Right out of the refrigerator the bars will be hard since they are cold. Leave them out for an hour and they will warm to room temperature and become a little softer and chewy.
The bars keep at room temperature for about 1 week (if they last that long). Just make sure they are tightly covered or sealed in a container.
Ingredients |
2 1/2 cups (230 grams) old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup (80 grams) whole almonds, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup (113 grams) honey
1/4 cup (56 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup (50 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (60 grams) dried cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (65 grams) raisins
Method |
Combine butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla extract and the salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until butter melts and the sugar completely dissolves.
Pour butter mixture in to bowl with toasted oats and almonds. Mix well. Let cool about 5 minutes then add ccranberries.
Transfer oat mixture to lined pan then use a rubber spatula or damp finger tips to firmly press the mixture into the pan. (Press hard here, this way the bars will stay together once cooled and cut — We press for about one minute to be extra safe).
Cover then refrigerate at least 2 hours. Remove block of granola mixture from pan then peel away aluminum foil. Cut into 12 bars.
Store bars in an airtight container for up to one week. For the softest bars, keep at room temperature. For slightly harder bars, store in the fridge.
We hope you like them! Share with us your version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours
Some might hate Valentine, hence it’s also someday special for many others. For me is another day of making my love ones around feel in love again. However, I must say that it is an excuse for me to bake, or give them a gift! I enjoyed being Cupid giving out a gift that I made myself since school days! You can say it’s a habit or just crazy ideas from me that I want to share! I always believed in everyone deserves having something special on a special day!
Over the past weeks, we have shared a few blog posts on making your Valentine special! For those who has missed it, here is the recap. Bake some Strawberry Jam Sandwiches Biscuits for your loved ones to surprise them your baking skill. Handmade some Valentine’s Rosa Bath Bomb to make them feel comfortable in the bath! And, never ever forget to host your very own Valentine’s Friendship Brunch with your girlfriends and let them know that they are special as well!
Thus, if you think that our Valentine’s day posts didn’t inspire enough, we have gathered a mood board for your last minute preparation. May these thoughts inspire you to surprise your Valentine!
Receiving lovely message hidden in cookies surely makes me overjoyed. Convey your love message through this DIY conversation heart sugar cookies by Lovely Indeed.
The Valentine’s by 100 Layers Cake Let hosted a lovely Valentine’s Day party for kids, is so beautiful that you only can say valentine is not only for the adult!
Host Valentine’s dinner for your loved ones, be inspired by the amazing beautiful table setting created by Calder Clark, Rue Mag.
Valentine’s Day is coming in 2 day time. However, have you girls prepare your chocolate for your crush yet? Don’t be shy to tell your loves one your love them because you will get an unexpected reply from them. I promise!
Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another.
Most of the time when thinking of Valentine’s Day, the majority will automatically go to romantic love between significant others, but what about the love shared between best girlfriends? And, on such day there are still plenty of ways to celebrate. While, Valentine’s Day means much more than hearts, chocolates, and roses. The affection they feel on that day extends beyond lovers to their close friends and family too.
Both Angela and I thought of put together some fun ideas so that you can enjoy this love-filled holiday with your friends, best friends or even your family. After all, there are plenty of ways to spread the love on February 14th, whether you’re in a relationship or not. So after much consideration, we decided to have Valentine’s Day Friendship Brunch.
Enjoying an afternoon tea while perched on a gilded hotel armchair is a fine British tradition, but hardly sustainable as a regular pursuit. Throwing your own brunch party means you can stick to your own budget, plus you can select your favorite finger food. Therefore, let’s get started!
Start by extending your table and throw on a table cloth. In a few weeks back, we got a few crates from a garage. We went on fabricating it but sanding away the rough surface. End it with our very own lace tablecloth on. This help to create an English and vintage atmosphere. Pop some cushion on the ground and you are all good to go for your next preparation.
Most importantly in the brunch party is to have a centerpiece for your table. For us we owned a 2 tiered cake stand in pink and polka dots. Otherwise, use your best crockery and make it a little more special with lace-like doilies, folded napkins and name place signs. On our 2 tiered cake stand, we have a variety of savory and sweets on it.
On the bottom tiered we have made – Orange and Cranberry Tea Sandwiches, Ham Tea Sandwiches and also English Cucumber Sandwiches. The sandwiches are cut into small pieces, it allow everyone to have bites of everything and yet not getting tired of having it.
On the top tiered it consist of the sweets – Mini Fruit Tarts and also Buttercream Lemon Cupcakes. What is a brunch party without bright and yummy fruits? Thus we headed to the market in the morning to grab some fresh one. The Mini Fruit Tarts recipe opened up my eyes to the adorable-ness that are little tarts made with cookie crusts using a muffin tin. This little dull is so easy, crunchy and creamy to be made. I couldn’t resist them at all.
Even though, this may not be the first time we made this Lemon cupcake. Yet, it’s the first time we created this buttercream recipe. There are different types of buttercream, however, we felt that the Swiss Meringue Buttercream works best for this recipe.
Besides, don’t forget your teapot, teacups, cutlery and cake slices for serving. For a modern girl like us, we used jar and glasses for this hot afternoon to serve our Mandarin Orange Juice. Since it is Chinese New Year season thus we have lots of leftover Mandarin Orange. Adding lemon juice and mint into this drink just simply make the afternoon a refreshing one.
“Do you feel like something is missing? Hmmm.. I think you forget to mention about Scones. Why isn’t it on your tiered cake stand?” Don’t worry that’s the first thing that came to our mind when we mention about brunch party. It doesn’t take long to whip up but if you want to get ahead, freeze a batch and defrost them in a low oven. Serve warm with lashings of jam – decant a pot of homemade preserve into a pretty bowl. Not forgetting the clotted cream. Ending the preparation with a cheese, ham and sausage platter and our party is all good to go.
This may sound like you’re going to have a hectic preparation for that day. But no, most of them you could make it days ahead. Just a few touch-up and simply wear your perfect dress and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. If you do also wish to give your friend a little gift, wrap our Valentine’s Rosa Bath bombs up into small packages with a name tag along with it. Perfect isn’t it?
We hope you like them! Share with us your very own Valentine! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
We have a treat for all the ladies and lover today. A recipe for a homemade gift you’ll that’s perfect for pampering the ones you love – Rosa Bath Bombs!
These little treats pack a powerful punch when added to a warm bath. Place them under running water and they’ll dissolve and fizz and create a wonderful soaking environment. Even if you don’t have a bathtub, these bath bombs can still be effective in a shower. The water will help dissolve the bath bomb and release the aroma of the essential oils into the steam. Best yet, you can add whichever scents you choose.
Since it is for Valentine’s Day, we used roses because it’s romatic and invigorating. All also we make them into small little heart, using the silicon heart molds. It will be really lovely when you see little hearts floating in the water.
Actually, we went to make some of these around last year and a couple different tutorials we tried did not produce very good results. But hey, if at first, you don’t succeed, sometimes you just have to try again.
Now that I’ve found a method/recipe that works, I’m thinking I should have some friends over for a make-your-own-bath-bombs party. Added bonus: It seriously makes your whole room smell amazing while you make these! However for now, let’s make some for our lover first!
Ingredients |
1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup Citric Acid
10 drops essential oil (we used Rose)
1/2 tbsp of carrier oil (such as Jojoba, Almond, or even coconut oil like us)
spray bottle with water
rose petals
gel food coloring (totally optional)
silicone mold
Method |
In a medium bowl, mix together the baking soda and citric acid. You can strain them through a sieve for a finer consistency if desired.
In a small bowl, stir together your carrier oil and essential oil. Add to the medium bowl of powders and stir until well mixed. Add mica powder for coloring if desired.
Using a spray bottle of water, mist the surface until slightly damp. Mix until it’s the consistency of slightly wet sand— it should clump together when pressed. DO NOT OVER SATURATE! If it’s too wet it WILL fall apart when you are taking it out of the molds.
Pack into molds. I used both silicone for small heart shapes and a muffin tin for larger ‘pucks’. Be sure to add the mixture to the top of the mold and really pack it in there.
Cover mold with a paper towel, and carefully turn upside down over a baking sheet covered in another paper towel. Gently tap the bottom of the mold if needed, and unmold the bath bombs. Cover with paper towels and let dry overnight.
Package in an airtight container or bag so that your DIY bath bombs don’t lose their fizz, and enjoy!
We hope you like them! Share with us your version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
My 52 weeks of the journey is coming to an end soon, there are only 11 more portraits to post! After this, I might continue new #APaintPortrait project or I will start a new project. However, nothing has decided yet but I’m looking forward to expanding my illustration’s works. Making every journey a good one.
This week A Paint Portrait I would love share this lovely lady that I admire. It’s featuring a voyager that has to be my inspiration – Laura, she has been leaving her footstep around the world. And each moment she captured she just brought me a deep impression!
With her, as my inspiration from time to time, I knew myself. All I wanted was to live a life where I could be me and be okay with that.
I had no need for material possessions, money or even close friends with me on my journey. During the journey, I might be lonely and helpless without them but all I wanted was my art and the chance to be the creator of my own world, my own reality. All I want the open road and new beginnings every day.
Wouldn’t you agree with us? It’s just exciting to welcome the cooling breeze during this season! The smell of blossom just brings live into our daily life. Just the other day while we’re having a tea over at our patio, our garden begins fills with blossom.
The scene’s just beautiful! Even though they look much subtle right now. However, mom said, soon, when the spring comes they garden will be filled with colors.
We always enjoyed having flowers at home, it brings in liveliness. They brighten up the room and gives a little freshness to it. They just seem like the best remedy for our expression. Simply with a stalk of flower on the desk just make our day. Change a different flower weekly, it will give you different expression and mood once in awhile.
Change a different flower weekly, it will give you different expression and mood once in awhile. Different colors represent different mood, we love pink blossom especially the peony thus let us what is your favorite?
When comes to February, the first thing that comes to our mind is Valentine Day. Valentine Day doesn’t only mean couples, it is a day for your love one. Moreover, our sweet tooth is at an all-time high each year around Valentine’s Day. When we making Valentine’s Day cookies last week, we also wanted to make some to our mother. However, here’s the thing: he/she doesn’t like chocolate or anything too sweet. So, to make a set of cookies that everyone would love.
It wouldn’t be Valentine Day without Jam Sandwich Biscuits — they are a staple on the biscuit platter. Strawberry jam sandwiched between two buttery cookies are simply delectable this time of year.
The fun part is using mini cookie cutters to make shapes in the center of the cookies for the jam to peek through. If you don’t have cookies cutter you can use a cup like what we did. Since it is Valentine Day used a mini heart for a few. You can use any flavor of fruit jam — homemade tastes even sweeter! You can also try our Homemade Orange Marmalade with this recipe, it will definitely bring our another flavor.
Tips from the sisters: don’t make holes in the center of all the cookies. I nearly did before I realized if I sandwiched two cookies with holes together the jam would fall right out! Blonde moment. So cut holes in the center of half the cookies and keep the other half of the cookies whole. Use a cookie with a hole and a cookie without a hole for each side of the sandwich and you’re good to go!
Make sure you don’t add jam all the way to the sides of the cookie, so when you press two cookies together you don’t squeeze some of the jam out to the edges. A little goes a long way. The cookies keep great for a week or so in an air-tight container in the fridge but are best within the 12 days.
Ingredients |
2 1/4 cups (11 1/2 oz./260 g.) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1 oz./30 g.) cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup (6 oz./185 g.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 cup (8 oz./250 g.) granulated sugar
1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk
About 2 cups (1 1/4 lb./625 g.) strawberry jam or other fruit jam
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)
Method |
In a bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, and salt. In another bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the butter and zest until light. Add the granulated sugar and beat until completely incorporated. Add the whole egg and egg yolk and beat until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture, and beat until just incorporated. Gather the dough into a ball and divide into thirds. Flatten each third into a disk. Wrap separately in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
Dust 1 dough disk with flour and place between 2 large sheets of waxed paper. Roll out the dough 1/8 inch (3 mm.) thick. Using a 3-inch (7.5 cm.) decoratively shaped cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1/2 inch (12 mm.) apart. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Gather the dough scraps into a ball, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate.
Bake until the edges of the cookies are golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Repeat with the remaining 2 disks, then roll out, cut, chill, and bake the scraps in the same manner.
Spread the jam on the bottoms of half of the cookies, spreading it lightly at the edges. Top with the remaining cookies bottoms down. Dust the tops with confectioners’ sugar, if desired. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
They taste so good and are really easy to make. We hope you like them! Share with us your version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
What a great month it is – January! Let aim to make our February ever greater! After 3 weeks of hiatus, this week A Paint Portrait I would love share this gifted illustrator that I respected. It’s featuring an illustrator that have to be my inspiration – Silver, also a film lover, traveler.
She is such a free soul with a gifted talent of telling a story in each of her photographs. I envy her simple life where travel about in the southeast Asian.
Thus, have you ever question yourself what kind of the life would you want to lead on? By, knowing what you know now and what you have been through, would you do it the same? As for me, I look at the alternative – a very simple life. It would have been nice to have a simple life. To believe and that is how one would want to move on?
Life is as simple as these three questions: What do I want? Why do I want it? And, how will I achieve it? And, if you can answer these question, you might lead a simple yet a happy life.
This week I would love to share with you some amazing work desk or studio inspiration I have in mind. I love eye-pleasing, organized space and of course, it must be practical yet attractive! With having a messy studio is annoying for me as I couldn’t concentrate, and most of the time I would have brian-block.
I’ve rounded up a handful of my absolute favorite desk items. And also, am sharing some ways I’ve been styling (and organizing) my desk recently for inspiration. For those who are like me, who like to stick up your favorite images, quotes or design on the wall. Here is some inspiration of studio for you. This studio, mood board helps you to collect ideas and bind them together. As it always brings liveliness to your boring desk.
For the different individual, you could display differently like the mood board I share. For those who love a messy person like me, start off by having a full wall of pin board and a few pin. You are able to freely adjust and mind-mapping with a lot of freedom. However for the minimalist, you can clip your inspiration up using a string. This is good for those who need a clear view of the inspiration.
Gather some equipment (MT tapes, transparent tapes, wooden-clipper, strings) now, and try out different method and you will get the style that suits you the most!
I realized that I appreciate making and eat, there’s no specification, I do not have any craving or preferences, I just love good food. I enjoyed Chinese cuisine, and among all I love dumplings. Each dumpling filled with juicy fillings; steam marinates minced meat, prawn and chopped cabbages just taste marvelous with the thin layer of skin! And, steam dumpling, it’s one of the kinds that I can’t refrain from.
This week we would like to introduce our Pork and Shrimp Steamed Dumplings. Also, Pork and Shrimp Steamed Dumplings are also known as “Shao Mai”. It is one of the popular Dim Sum of all time.
We born in an Asian family with a strong association with a Chinese background. Our grandparents pass on their traditions to our parents than to us. If you ask which is my comfort food, I would say any mom cooked dishes. They have a strong flavor of home that passes on from generation. My passion for culinary begins when I was 14 – 15 years old. I start learning cooking from my mom and take charge of preparing meals for my family. Especially to feed both Joe and me however soon it has become an interest for us spending time in the kitchen.
While making dumpling is only of my mom specialties. It’s just like the Italian’s ravioli, wrapping their filling into the pasta dough! My mom makes all kind of dumping; steam, boiled, fry and fried. Thus, we like to share you this pork and shrimp steamed Chinese dumplings also know as Hong Kong dim sum, “Shao Mai”. They are juicy and full of flavors.
We’ve been making some variation of this same recipe for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been eating them and sharing them for just as long—a quick meal on a lazy weeknight, an appetizer at one of my parents’ dinner parties, a well-deserved after school snack, or a taste of home at college. Let get started with this juicy “Shao Mai”.
Ingredients |
(30 pieces, portion for 4-6 pax)
Pork and Shrimp Steamed Chinese Dumplings:
30 Shaomai Skin
1/2 egg yolk
1 tbsp Starch potato powder
300g minced pork
200g prawns, shelled and minced
6 dried shiitake mushrooms
lettuce for garnishing
Marinate sauce:
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sake
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 sesame oil
Method |
Combine the ground pork, shrimp, chopped shiitake mushrooms, egg yolk, starch potato powder and all the seasonings together. Mix well and set aside.
To makeShao Mai, make a circle with your thumb and index finger; lay the wrapper on top, nudging it down to create a cup. Add 2 teaspoons filling, then pat the filling down with the back of a spoon. Fold the overhanging wrapper edges down, leaving the filling exposed. Press the wrapper firmly around the filling. Pat the top and bottom of the dumpling to make it flat.
Arrange the dumplings in a steamer (lined with parchment paper and lettuce at the bottom) and steam for 8-10 minutes.
They taste so good and are really easy to make. We hope you like them! Share with us your version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
With 2017 around the corner, why not freshen the house for a brand new year ahead? If you’re thinking about giving your humble abode a mod new look for next year, you should totally go for Kale. It’s a very earthy and soothing shade. It might appear a little dark, which usually gives the impression that it’ll make things look old, but there are many ways to play around with this soon-to-be popular color in a youthful home.
To put some green in your living room, it all depends on the size of it. If the size of your living room is on the average or small side (like ours), you could opt to have ‘spots’ of Kale in the space. You can have items such as pillows, carpets, or tables in the hall with a light background. For those with large living rooms, you can either paint one of your walls in Kale or get a wallpaper with designs in similar tones. Due to its slightly dark hue, the walls can create a cozy and relaxing effect in your spacious living area.
You must have some green in your bedrooms. It’s known that the color green can help people relax and rest. It’s also a refreshing shade, exactly what you need when you wake up every morning. Get some bed sheets or blankets for your bedroom. Trust us, it’s a very welcoming sight after a long day at work.
We would also like to jazz things up a little with trendy dining ware. We usually stick with the silver, white porcelain, or glass dining pieces. However this year we would like to get some green plates and cutlery to set a more upbeat mood.
Yes, we’re serious about Kale; and no, we’re not talking about putting fresh kale all over the house. It’s not the vegetable we’re referring to, but the color Kale.
While drinking water is really important, it an essential for every day. However, water is always not the best alternative we like. Moreover, there are other healthy alternatives if you don’t like water, like coconut water, natural juices, and smoothies. Thus, if you wanna be healthy, please avoid alcohol, store-bought juices, and fizzy drinks. All this drink, they’re full of sugar and other nasty ingredients.
Furthermore, one of our favorite parts of all seasons are the moments spent enjoying a delicious drink on the balcony with our mother. Whatever, it’s all good (wink!). Most everyone agrees it’s quintessentially day to sip fruity, refreshing beverages in the different weather. Most importantly we do have a whole bunch of drink recipes that fit the bill. From summer cocktails to winter cocktails to that perfect glass of lemonade. Also, we sure do have one drink that suits yours taste buds.
For all the pitchers of tea we’ve made, we found one lemon and one orange just right for a citrusy summer drink. It doesn’t matter the size, one each will do. This tea can be made up to five days ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
La La La La La ~~ Sing a happy song!! Nice twist for making a Lemonade all smurfy! Two additional tips for you when comes to making this. The first tip is to have some simple syrup off to the side. Then taste the finished lemonade, and add some simple syrup to taste. The second tip was to freeze some of the lemonade in ice cube trays. That way your lemonade will not become diluted when served with “ice”!
The yellow-green color you see is all natural, created by blending fresh ginger and cucumber together. Some more, we found blending the cucumber was the fastest way to infuse it into this drink. As for soaking, it required a lot more cucumbers and more time.
If you’ve never made mojito before then you’ll be surprised how easy it is. Muddle fresh mint and lime juice then add white rum, cranberry simple syrup, and stir. Top it off with ice cubes, sparkling water, and garnish with a few mint leaves, fresh cranberries and a slice of lime.
This Pomegranate Thyme Fizz Cocktail is a perfect drink for parties (think: big beautiful punch bowl that maybe I could borrow from you some time). As well as, it tastes just as nice without the liquor if you’re looking for a solid non-alcoholic option for teetotalers. You could also substitute rosemary, mint or thyme for a totally different flavor profile.
They taste so good and are really easy to make. We hope you like them! Share with us your version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
The enthusiasm with this year Pantone announcement it is just beyond amazing yet. While going through those shades, we decided to select several to share with you folks. Apart from the love with Greenery, there’s another colour we love this season.
It’s Hazelnut, a refined, subtle, earthy tone we loved. Most of you will agree that it is a stand alone colour which is the best combination with earthy, rustic tone. Moreover, you could describe this colour as light brown, pale brown, caramel brown or camel tan. As it has a natural feel to it and adds a warm glow to any interior space. There are so many different ways you can work this hue into your next project. Here are some ideas you might like…
If you are a simplistic lover like us, you will be in love with Hazelnut. Hazelnut is a wondrous colour to work around with white, textured materials. Add white accents with slip covered seating and accent the room with green plants. So cosy! Or even add a touch of warmth to a white modern living room with a camel brown throw, to bright up the whole room.
Hazelnut is a wondrous colour to work around with earthy tone especially the white. It works with different textured materials as well, each will bring out a different touch of it. Hazelnut is all seasonal colour; Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn therefore for those decide to choose a colour for you living room, you could consider this! It’s a wonderful way to incorporate the cosy brown hue into your home design colour scheme.
Angela seems to be always famished upon her awaken, and the promise of a good breakfast is enough to get her out of the bed. Breakfast, it’s our favorite moment of the day! It breaks our overnight fast and gets our metabolism running again. Failing to eat breakfast can lead to us feeling lethargic, a slow metabolism, weight gain, and general unhealthy eating habits. This is a proven science. Yet many of us still leave the house without making sure that our tummies are happy (for me sometimes).
The biggest problem when it comes to eating breakfast (or not eating breakfast) is that we don’t give ourselves enough time. Most of us are always in a rush in the morning and convince ourselves “we will get something on the way”. Although that’s fine, I think when the time comes, we usually end up getting ourselves convenient foods which don’t add any nutritional value into our system. While we love spending extra time in the morning to prepare waffles, pancakes, or green juices. However, when we’re busy we prefer a healthy breakfast that will take less than 20 minutes to make. You feel us?
Therefore to welcome the year 2017, let pick some of our all time easy and favorite breakfast. Hopefully, you’ll find some ideas and inspiration for their morning meals. We hope that you find them useful and convenient for you and your family! Let get’s started!
The salad is something that we never get’s wrong for a breakfast. For those vegans who wanted to try some fishes, the will be the best starter. As the sweetness of the salmon simply just melts slowly in your mouth.
Avocado is one of Angela favorite food. Therefore there is always a jar of homemade guacamole in the fridge waiting for her. Just two scope of guacamole and top it with tomato and bacon, you are all good to go.
You can pre-made this Corn Chowder days ahead, cool them and freeze them up. When you are ready to enjoy them, heat them up in a pot, season it with some salt and pepper. Sometimes, we love to eat it with the Avocado Toast when we want a full meal. They are one of the best combination we ever have.
Thus, we love to challenge you to have breakfast every day. Share with us your version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
When Pantone releases their latest colors trend of 2017 I was in thrilled. Greenery will be one of my favorite scheme tone ever. I love what greens brought in my daily life. There is a whole list of it and I do not know where to start but I know I will end it by sharing you our inspiration mood board for the week! I shall begin;
No 1. Greenery is beautiful. It’s not only the pleasant looking scenery but the calming scheme that has brought into our life. I would say greenery just represent me, I couldn’t stop laughing but I even had “forest” as a nickname when I was a kid. I assume people surrounded me viewed me as an organic, greenery, and floral characters since young. It’s part of the green’s family, that is no reason for me to hate it, don’t you agree!
No 2. Greenery, it’s a light pale green. Smoothing to our eye, that why I love it even more.I think the trend of bringing Greenery in could inspire many individuals; creatively or environmentally. In fact, it actually urges me to get a few more pot of plant for our grander to give more punch of the greenery look. One of the biggest projects that we would touch on would be upgrading our patio garden, and planting more edible plants. We love to share our thoughts and experience with you all via our blog.
No 3. Even though it’s still on discussion list but one of the biggest projects that we would touch on would be upgrading our patio garden. Having more organize planting system with more edible plants. We love to share our thoughts and experience with you all via our blog. We hope that you would like them!
Last but not least I would definitely like to get involved in more greens project to please the eyes of our viewer. Also, as an environmentalist, I would like to do my part to convey my message out through our work.
It’s a brand new year, forget about all week blues!
Let’s celebrate with a beautiful greenery year! Happy New Year!
We guessed that no one would like to say goodbye to this year Christmas. For us, we have been thankful as it’s all about giving to others and extra food for our stomach! Sadly to say, even though the Christmas is over. It’s still a holiday season that you never get enough of good company and good food. After all, New Year is on the way, which is tomorrow!
During this Christmas, we decide to put on our apron and get ready the baking tin for the festive season. Over the weekend, we decide to bake some mini Bon Bon Chocolate Strawberry Cake after the feast.
The result was unexpectedly good, both of us were satisfied with the final outcome. That is the reason why we would love to share with you this mini Bon Bon Chocolate Strawberry Cake recipe. It is not a bad idea to make it for New Year party to welcome 2017!
I would like to say compare to me, Joe is born to be a baker. She was so talented with the flours and sugars. When those staples come across it just turn into magic.
Most importantly, this cake is dark, moist, rich and incredibly decadent. Seriously, it’s the best chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted. The Green Mountain Coffee’s Blend plays a very important role here because it blended amazingly well with the cocoa. As it helps to create the most intense and delicious chocolate cake yet you won’t be tired of it. It’s the perfect sort of cake for a New Year Eve, the best cake I have ever tasted. Make sure to enjoy it with a very large glass of ice cold milk – or coffee!
Ingredients |
1 3/5 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1¾ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
5/8 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract / vanilla paste
200ml of espresso
3 tbsp of cocoa powder
2 tbsp of rum
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Whipping cream
Strawberry for garnish
Method |
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Grease and line the bottom of a 8 x 4-inch loaf tin.
Melt the chocolate chips using double boiled method, till smooth. Set aside to cool down.
Measure plain flour and baking powder in a small bowl. Stir with a fork/spoon/whisk to mix them all together. Set aside.
Place the softened butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat, with an electric mixer, for 5 minutes, scraping the sides down occasionally. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the melted chocolate, espresso and your choice of alcohol – for us we used rum. Then beat in the vanilla extract, followed by the cocoa powder.
Sift in the flour mixture in two batches and fold the flour in gently.
Transfer the batter into the loaf tin and bake for 60 to 90 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely in the tin.
Turn the cake out and peel off the parchment paper. For us, we wanted a smaller cake. Thus using a 5″ round cutter we make 4 of them. Turn the cake right side up.
Now whip you whipping cream to a high peak, garnish with a strawberry. Slice and serve!
Share with us your version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours! Enjoy your last bits of 2016.
This week A Paint Portrait I would love share one of the talented creative that I admired for a long time. It’s featuring a creative that have to be my inspiration – Megan, an amazingly creative, cat lover.
While people might misunderstand most of the creative being hard to deal with. Even though, I wouldn’t be denied the fact, I am. However, we are motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others. Thus lately I discovered that my desire to achieve tend to hurt others who worked with me.
Despite all, I won’t deny that I’m either walking in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. Times I realized that I couldn’t distinguish what I want, as I’m still searching for it. Finding myself. I’m not Christ, I’m not perfect, so I stop trying to be perfect. I merely a human being that trying to explore for the dim of light. To find the right path and make thing right.
Wow, can you imagine! Today is the last Monday of 2016. Thus, we decided to take a day off from sharing our usual inspiring mood board but reflect our year together. We have been through 365 days, 52 weeks, 12 months this 1 year. We were grateful for our journey with people we met. The love we received from our family and friends! This is our 2016 on the records, even though there are 5 more days to go but we could predict that with more good food, good gathering, and a little work to clear off the thought of our worrisome. #alwaysworking
January
Started 2016 with a confusion of what are going to happen in a brand new year. However, the excitement just slowly filled with joy and adventures. Joe began the year with picking up a new skill. Learn film photography and we decided to take photos of each other.
March
After a busy start of the year, finally, we got to have a break during the early Spring. We took the spare time to get really to launch Le Plain Canvas! A space that we proud to share our thought.
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May
While spring turned to summer pretty quickly, we are busy with the mini makeover at home with the help of our uncle. Had brand new walls, ceiling, sofa, cushions, fabrics, lot more of shopping and making on our own.
July
Fully embraced the heat (and mental health) with street parties, rooftop dinners, ice cream excursions, and planning jaunts for the upcoming month.
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September
We began our trekking back in August, and it has slowly become monthly activities during the weekend. Back in September, we decided to challenge ourselves to one of the highest submit in Singapore – to Bukit Timah Hill.
November
November is a special month, it’s busy but I still decided to host a birthday’s retreats for both my Mom and Joe’s during their birthday. Last year we host on the birthday’s week of Joe’s 23rd birthday, therefore, this year we host on our mom’s birthday! It was a heart-warming family staycation at Fairmont hotel. We enjoyed the stay as it feels like home!
February
Wasn’t the best month of the month (due to ongoing workload). Yet during the holiday, we are able to spend some quality time, visiting families and friends that we haven’t been seeing for awhile. As well as, having a good trip down the park for a picnic (with our parents).
April
During our free time from work, we embrace ourselves with photography, cooking, exhibits to begin our Spring. One of our favorite exhibits would be the Future World exhibition, it just keeps us mesmerizing. The lights just inspired us from the work we are doing right now.
June
Works getting busier for both of us especially when Joe started her new job. We see each other lesser but we never will skip our breakfast together (if possible).
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August
It’s one of our favorite events of the year – The Color Run 2016. We registered as early as, upon the announcement has been made. It was fun just like last year but this time we enjoyed it better with the after run party! However, after the run, we knew that we need to spend more time to exercise.
October
Beginning of the Autumn, there were lots of We are glad that we didn’t miss this beautiful exhibition. The bright color of the structure just stops us from leaving that place.
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December
Had a crazy, crazy month at work wrapping up photo shoots and designs, and spent way too much time stressed and not enough embracing the holiday vibes (it has been really hot during this December!) BUT had some fun too: enjoyed gatherings, shopping for gifts for friends and family (really enjoyed the fun of packaging)!
Something we’re proud to mentioned, both of us pick up news skill and one of it would be taking images with playing the shutter speed. We are surprised and happy with the result.
Over the weekend, we had a few couple of gatherings for this festive holiday. We meet up friends, cooked some good food, popping bottles at home and we were thankful for the love ones by our side. Before the year end, we had a few thing to clear from our bucket list. However, mainly we just looking forward to the new year begin with a new goal. Thus, We wouldn’t be denied the fact that we’re scared but we believed that with the positive, happy vibes everything will be fine! But personally, 2017 looks really promising; work is aligned, plan and schedules were planned, have decided a few trips ahead, maybe one with the family and a host of other things we haven’t even thought of yet… Life is unpredictable and full of surprise, we just looking forward to the chances given and move on!
So cheers to us, our health, and our sense of adventure. Happy New Year!
P.S. Please continue to look forward on our website for more artwork, inspiration, and recipes. We are excited to step on our new journey for new adventure, bring more fun and inspiring work to you – our readers.
If you’re anything like us, gift wrapping traditionally happens at 9:00 pm the night before Christmas. When in a flurry of Santa wrapping paper purchased from the drugstore at the last minute. Sure, it does the job in a time crunch. However, isn’t there something special about a gift that was wrapped with care?
One of our favorite parts of Christma is the gift wrapping. We absolutely love finding new ways to make presents look pretty under the tree. Such as, a few years ago we cut branches of holly and slipped them under brown string – we have to admit it was soo prickly. As our poor family couldn’t fully appreciate the beauty of it! We still absolutely love the idea of wrapping presents with natural items. For example, using simple brown paper and string. Sometimes you could even use muslin and decorate with whatever is in the garden (with thorns). This makes the presents smell lovely too.
For us, we used a few evergreen sprigs from our backyard to add a dainty wreath as an addition items for the present. Start with using a piece of short wires serves as the ring and support for the wreath. Then with the evergreen branches wrapped around it ending with a ribbon.
We took the time to create wrapping that’s as beautiful as the gift inside — all with minimal effort, cost and DIY skills. Take a look at this clever DIY gift wrap ideas. Share with us your version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours! Happy Christmas!
It’s not really Christmas yet, but first I still would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! So after Christmas, New Year is waiting for us right at the corner. This year has been a great year for me, however, I know they can be better. I try out different hobbies and I made lots of new friends. This year been great when I step out of my comfort zone. Such as when I started a conversation with people I first met and also when I tried to travel to a new place alone.
Let’s bring back the topic, what will be doing on Christmas Day? For me, I and my sister will be cooking a meal for our family. It has been awhile since we sat down together and have a proper dinner. It is the time we will have a good gathering and sharing session. How about you? If you are still not sure on what to cook for that day, it is still not too late to start the preparation now.
Below are some of the recommendation for you, these recipes are delicious yet they won’t take up much of your time. I am sure that your family will like it.
The sun finally feels like it is beginning to come out of hibernation, indulging in a few more precious moments with me each day. The cloudy English skies and brilliant fogs, while a novelty at first, grew to become oppressive. We soon felt as withered as the waning plant we kept in my windowsill; the plant turning a shade of brown as it slowly tossed its leaves to the floor. Each day the sun stayed hidden behind the clouds, my energy drained ever so slightly from our limbs, taking a small part of my spirit with it.
The sun, we have discovered, is the cure to the simplest case of winter blues.
With a feeling of spring in the air, we were taken back briefly to the flavors of last summer and a resplendent glass of my summer drink of choice — Orange and Lemon Iced Tea. Even though it is too soon to dream of enjoying a glass while basking in the hot summer sun, we could not resist but bring the flavors together in a new form.
This soft biscuit is a clean slate in terms of flavor. The buttery, sandy texture of shortbread, while lovely on its own, lends itself well to simple mix-ins. The zest of a couple lemons and the subtle scent of lavender brought a feeling of spring into my kitchen, the aroma hanging in the air long after the cookies emerged from the oven.
These Lavender Lemon Biscuits brings a bright and also refreshing flavor to a winter’s afternoon. The classic sandy texture of soft biscuits meets lemon zest and lavender buds. The lemon is the predominant flavor while the lavender imparts a subtle tone to the overall profile. To add extra sweetness, the cookies are rolled with lemon-scented sugar before heading into the oven. These shortbread cookies are best accompanied with a warm beverage and visions of spring.
Notes for the sister: Please be sure to use culinary lavender and not lavender labeled for another purpose, which may be sprayed with pesticides or coated in inedible solutions. Edible lavender can readily be found in most health food stores.
Ingredients|
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
Zest of 2 lemons, divided
2 tbsp of lavender buds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp of baking powder
1 egg yolk
Method |
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. In large mixing bowl, mix the lavender and lemon zest in the granulated sugar. Leave it for 20 minutes for it to infuse.
Start by mixing the flour, baking powder, and salt evenly in a food processor. Then add in the soft butter, beat the mixture it until looks like a coarse sand before adding in the sugar mix. Lastly, add in egg yolk and vanilla extract, mix it until the dough comes together. Wrap using a clear wrap and leave it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
When it is done, on a lightly floured surface roll out shortbread until 1/4-inch thick. Cut out shapes and transfer to a baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Share with us your version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours! Happy Christmas!
Like what we have shared, we love brussels sprout. We also know it’s a little late for brussels sprouts season. Moreover, most of you are probably too focused on asparagus right now to think about wintry vegetables. Despite that, we’re happy to eat Brussels any time of year!
You would also enjoy a meal like this any time of year – grilled salmon, roasted vegetables, and cashew all tossed on a plate. There’s nothing revolutionary about this dish. Some more, you’ve likely seen or made a version of it once or several times before. However do trust us it’s a great recipe to have in your collection because it’s simple, healthful, flavorful, and satisfying!
Recently we start to fall in love in tossing roasted brussels sprouts with cashew and eating them just like that. We don’t often like coordinating main dishes with side dishes because it involves too much work but everything about this dish flows easily together, doesn’t take long or dirty too many dishes, and most importantly tastes so good you’ll want to add it into your meal rotation no matter the time of year!
Today we’re talking about this healthy and delicious dinner of Maple Chilli Roasted Salmon with Cashew, Brussels Sprouts. Disclaimer: there might have been quite a few more sprouts before I started taking pictures but I couldn’t stop eating them! Ooops.
Our favorite thing about this dish is that it requires the smallest amount of effort. The hardest part is having all the Brussels Sprouts in half and also making sure we don’t burn the cashew. Let us get started!
Ingredients |
500g brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
2tablespoons olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1 1/2pounds skinless salmon fillet
80g of cashew
2 tsp of dried chili
1 red chili
Methods |
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Meanwhile, blend the maple syrup, dried chili, olive oil, whole-grain mustard, kosher salt and black pepper together till smooth in a food processor. Prepare your salmon, removing all the bones. Marinate it will the sauce for at least 20 minutes or even overnight. Leave it on the foil and bake it for 40 minutes until it caramelized.
While baking the salmon you can start to cook your vegetables. Start by roasting your cashew nuts in the pan on a low heat till golden brown. Leave it aside to cool. Cook the brussels sprouts with garlic, seasoning it with some lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Chop the cashew into smaller pieces, mix it with the brussels sprouts.
When the salmon are done you are ready to serve. Garnish it with some coriander and sliced chili.
Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
Add a little name card to your Christmas table for a pretty way. To let your guests know where they’re sitting.
We thought we could use cinnamon sticks as the base since they are “holiday neutral” and could easily add a little something to both Thanksgiving and Christmas! The cinnamon will add a winter element that looks pretty and smells delicious to the Christmas table. This super simple cinnamon and Christmas leaf place card will take next to no time to create and will turn your table into a winter wonderland.
Different napkin detail can bring out different styles on the table with the same decoration. However, both will tell us how much would that fabulous scent have you anticipating your dinner? Again, achievable after a simple shopping trip – perfect!
Materials (To make one) |
2 cinnamon sticks
Paper
Hot glue gun
Gold & Black markers
Christmas Tree (Options)
We started with a bag of cinnamon sticks we picked up and a Christmas tree that was laying around the house. We took two cinnamon stick holding them side by side. Then we put a dab of hot glue on both ends gluing both sticks together.
Notice how there’s a little gap in between the cinnamon sticks? That’s just how you want it! We move on making the name card. Start by cutting a small rectangle out, using a ruler as a guild we draw a border using gold markers. After that, you can start your calligraphy work now.
Once the name cards were done, we slipped them in between the 2 cinnamon sticks that we glued together. The gap in between the sticks allows for the paper to slide right in and fit snug so it stays put! Add a little embellishment to the place cards, which is totally optional! Then we just snipped pieces from the Christmas tree that we had laying around and stuck the piece in between the 2 cinnamon sticks. It still looks cute without an embellishment, or you can add something completely different for yours – totally up to you!
This DIY will be the best idea for those last minutes-er. These names tags have us feeling festive and ready to celebrate the holidays! How about you??Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
I have so many things to say about brussels sprouts and I have no idea where to begin. I know where to end and that’s the part we give you a really wonderful and easy recipe for the brussels sprouts this holiday festival. To be true, at first I’m worried to handle these little guys but sooner or later I just love them. And, here is the list of reasons why I love Brussels sprouts so much:
I first ate a brussels sprouts dish was back in a Christmas gathering 3 years ago. It flavour just surprising, I never ate such thing before. Alright, I will not lie to you, I had attached by their look since they like look miniature cabbages. I love beautiful things.
When I first get to know, they did got me into lots of trouble! Since they are less juicy that cabbages, it was quite difficult to cook them, however, if you cook them well they do have lots of potential in all ways.
Don’t you agree that brussels sprouts have the most adorable look ever? Despite, they are small in size yet they could bring out so many flavors in various ways.
I like them because, brussels sprouts can make into different dishes – boiling, steaming, stir-frying, grilling, or roasting. And my favourite ways of making it are both stir-frying and roasting.
It is interesting to study their origins as well, brussels sprouts from New Zealand are smaller in sizes and lighter in their greens while the Netherlands ones are bigger in sizes and have darker leaves.
I love brussels sprouts so much. I could eat it every day.
That’s is why this Christmas how could we left out Brussels Sprouts with Oranges and Bacon!
Brussels Sprouts with Oranges and Bacon – it has been on of my favourite warm salad these days. I came to enjoy the sweetness from the orange and the fragrant from the bacon. With these two combinations, the brussels sprouts just taste fantastic. They have it own explode flavour, that you can’t stop having it.
Even it is a salad dishes but, we highly suggested to serve it while piping hot, as they will taste better while it is hot!
Ingredients |
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
2 small oranges, cut in half, then into 1⁄2-inch slices
Kosher salt
3 to 4 strips thick-cut bacon, cut into 1⁄4-inch pieces (1 cup)
1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
Method |
Preheat oven to 220 degrees. Brush a rimmed baking sheet generously with oil. Add oranges, in a single layer, turning to coat. Season with salt and drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil; roast 15 minutes. Add bacon and roast until crisp, about 12 minutes.
Toss brussels sprouts with remaining 4 tablespoons oil; season with salt. Add to baking sheet; toss to combine. Roast, tossing once until sprouts are tender and browning at edges and oranges are deeply caramelised, 25 to 30 minutes more.
This week #APaintPortrait I would like to share this lovely friend from Japan, Tokyo, Erika-San. She is great from I knew for years, a sweet talented lady of cooking. It’s always pleasant to see her Instagram for amazing inspiration at her home and cook.
Maintaining a friendship is also as important as a relationship. How do you survive when the person who knows you best lives thousands of miles away? For us, we try to keep up to date with each other daily life and shares mail – sending interesting stuff we found in our country. All these small actions brought us together, even we are living in different country.
“There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.” – Diana Cortes
Much like the Cucumber Ginger Mocktail we shared last week, this cocktail is — first and foremost — refreshing as heck. It’s seasonal and festive, but it’ll save your stomach from all the heavy eggnog and Irish creme. That might be flowing a little too freely at your holiday celebrations during the coming week.
This Pomegranate Thyme Fizz Cocktail is a perfect drink for parties (think: big beautiful punch bowl that maybe I could borrow from you some time). Moreover, it tastes just as nice without the liquor if you’re looking for a solid non-alcoholic option for teetotalers. You could also substitute rosemary or mint for the thyme for a totally different flavour profile.
Though it’s a simple cocktail to create at home, pomegranates aren’t the most cooperative thing in the fruit bowl. So in the spirit of holiday generosity, first we’d like to share the ultimate method to harvesting those delicious seeds in under 60 seconds. Keep in mind that we had two dozen pomegranates to seed at the time and didn’t figure this trick out until about an hour in… do not make the same mistakes we did.
To remove pomegranate seeds:
Start by lightly circle the pomegranate with a knife to create two halves (don’t cut all the way through). After that by using your fingers, pry the pomegranate open. Take one of the halves and gently pull it in various directions to stretch the inside parts out a little bit and break some of the bonds between the seeds and the rind. Flip the pomegranate seed side down in your hand and then beat the outside of the pomegranate with a wooden spoon over a bowl, turning as needed. Lastly, pick out the few pieces of pulp that might end up in the bowl. That’s it. Magic!
Using a muddler (or in our case, a metal spoon and strainer), muddle the pomegranate seeds and thyme together. Strain the juice into a glass. Add gin or vodka and ice, top with ginger ale and garnish with fresh thyme and pomegranate seeds as “sprigs of holly.”
This makes for the perfect house cocktail for all of your holiday soirées, but you don’t need to have a gathering to enjoy this pretty drink! Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
It’s time for some Christmas Vibes and it’s clear from a quick look around the inter-web. In the inter-web, you can see that we are creeping closer to the holidays. Next week will be the last week all about Christmas nights on the blog. Be sure to stop by!
Dress up a simple place setting, it sounds like a very simple task but it is the most tricky thing to do.
You can dress your table with a stunning centrepiece. Such as bringing the outdoors in with a woodsy, nature-inspired centrepiece. Moreover, you can treat your guests to the luxury of using different plates and bowls for each course. And also serve soup in simple wooden bowls, follow with a salad on a delicate ironstone plate and finish with dinner on a square wooden plate. A crystal goblet adds a touch of elegance, but the wheat pattern ties into the natural theme. The silver, white and gold colour palette provides a pleasing colour contrast.
For those who love subtle seasonal touches, like sprigs of holly tucked into silver napkin rings, a mini poinsettia centrepiece and garland wreaths along the sideboard, give this simple table setting quiet sophistication.
Happy Monday everyone!!
xoxo, Joe.
Credit | All shots used on the Christmas mood board via our Pinterest boards.
Time files, December just jump quickly before we realised it, leaving only 7 days more to the Christmas. For those, who are worrying there wasn’t enough time to prepare the feast on the Christmas’s day. Do not have to worry about it. Sides are the most simple yet tricky dish to choose from. As we need it to accommodate the main that we are preparing.
Therefore this time we are sharing with you an all-time favourite dishes from our family – Creamy Scalloped Potatoes. Most importantly it is using the most basic ingredients you have in the kitchen. This Creamy Scalloped Potato is the most creamy, delicious scalloped potatoes are all an all time dinner favourite. The dish can be largely assembled ahead: Leave off the last portion of cheese, cover the dish with plastic wrap (pressing it directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming), and refrigerate it for up to one day. Remove it 30 minutes before baking, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, and bake as instructed.
Tell us, who doesn’t love potato dishes. Creamy Scalloped Potatoes is all time favourite, despite their look. Since they weren’t the glamorous but they taste just amazingly gratifying. We’re always satisfied to make this recipe at home, as everybody just washes the oven dish, with their spoon. Especially my dad who is a traditional Asian-man, he only enjoyed rice at his meal. However, while we prepare this, he simply enjoyed it so much that he will clear the left over.
Ingredients |
(serving 10)
1 clove garlic, lightly smashed and peeled
Unsalted butter, room temperature, for pan
8 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon lightly packed fresh thyme leaves
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 1/4 cups Gruyere, coarsely grated
Method |
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rub the bottom and sides of a 3-quart baking dish with garlic; reserve garlic. Brush pan generously with butter. Peel potatoes and slice the potatoes into thick slices.
Transfer potatoes and garlic to a large pot with cream, milk, thyme, 1 tablespoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil over high. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 1 minute. Let cool slightly, about 10 minutes.
Spoon one-third of potato mixture into prepared dish. Sprinkle with one-third of the cheese. Repeat layering twice more. Loosely cover the dish with parchment-lined foil.
Bake until potatoes is tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove foil; turn oven to broil. Broil until potatoes are bubbly and browned in places, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.
Tips from the sisters |
From our past experience, while slicing the potatoes, keep the slices about 1/8 of an inch thick so that they get cooked thoroughly. You could add in more cheese for a stronger flavor.
Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
Counting down to 8 more days to Christmas, so have you plan what you are going to do yet? For our family, we are preparing to have a Christmas feast. Just a little feast, chatting and movies to fill our day up.
The definition of joy is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. What are the things that make you feel pleasure and happy? For me it can be very simple, seating alone at Starbucks (at the window seat), have a cup of coffee and do some painting. This certainly made my day a good one.
However, to some, it is very hard to find joy, why? Is it because there is nothing that will make them happy or they simply doesn’t satisfy?
“Without pain, how could we know joy?’ This is an old argument in the field of thinking about suffering and its stupidity and lack of sophistication could be plumbed for centuries but suffice it to say that the existence of broccoli does not, in any way, affect the taste of chocolate.” – John Green
When it come to Christmas pudding is definitely a “Love it or hate it” affair. However, we decided to challenge ourselves to create a Christmas pudding recipe with a twist, something that even Christmas pudding-haters will fall in love with. Both of us come to an agreement that our Christmas pudding was to “add chocolate!!!” as it makes it even more festive. Then, we paired it with orange to create our very own mini Chocolate Orange Christmas Pudding. How could anyone resist this combination?
For those who doesn’t know why Christmas pudding is one of the favorite in the UK. As it is a British tradition for making the Christmas pudding. This tradition dates back to Victorian times when everyone in the household gives the Christmas pudding mixture a stir and makes a wish! Although we are not British nor it is our tradition to do so. We find it fun to having it! Despite my pudding is quite non-traditional, it’s been very satisfying to create my own Christmas pudding from scratch.
Whilst stirring the fruit, spices, and liquor together, it’s very hard not to feel festive and uplifted. We even decided to go with mini Chocolate Orange Christmas Pudding instead. For those of our family and friends whom never try previously, it is the best mass for a gift this holiday season.
We know that many of you, tradition be damned, are resistant to Christmas pudding, and we do understand why however you must try this. Until you do it yourself, you probably think all that dried fruit is, well, dry, and the pudding heavy. Yet this is far from the case: the fruit is moist and sticky, and the pudding mystifyingly, meltingly light. I shall stop talking and let’s begin!
Ingredients |
60 g plain flour
3 tbsp arrowroot powder
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp xantham gum
120 g dark brown muscovado sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
150g fresh white breadcrumbs
½ tsp ground mixed spice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Zest and juice of 2 oranges (approx 100ml orange juice)
60ml vegetable oil
80ml water
4 tbsp rum
100 g dark chocolate chips
350 g brandy soaked mixed dried fruit & citrus peel
100g pitted dates chopped into small pieces
Method |
To prepare the pudding mixture
If you can’t get hold of ready-soaked mixed fruit, prepare it the previous day by adding the mixed fruit and peel to a bowl with approx 3 tbsp brandy. Leave overnight. Prepare a 1-litre pudding basin by greasing it with vegetable oil and placing a circle of greaseproof paper at the bottom.
Mix the flour, arrowroot powder, baking powder, xantham gum, cocoa powder, sugar, breadcrumbs, and spices together in a bowl. Stir in the orange juice and zest, vegetable oil, water and orange flavoring. Fold in the dried fruits and the chocolate. Transfer the mixture to the pudding basin.
To steam the pudding
Tear off a large square of the greaseproof paper and tin foil, placing the greaseproof paper on the bottom. Create a pleat by making a 1-inch thick fold in the center of both layers. Place on top of the pudding tin and scrunch the foil around the sides to secure. Tie securely with a piece of string.
Fold the excess paper and foil to help make it water-tight. Create a handle by tying another piece of string to one side of the tin (where you made the knot from the previous string) and tying it on the opposite side so you can easily lift the pudding out of the pot.
Place a trivet or upturned saucer at the bottom of the pot (I used a small heat-proof container lid) and place the pudding on top. Fill the pot half way up with hot water and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot with a lid and leave to steam for 3½ hours.
After 3½ hours, lift the pudding out of the pot and leave to cool for a few minutes, until the pudding starts to shrink away from the sides of the tin. Carefully, using a spatula knife, loosen the pudding from the sides and turn over onto a plate.
Tips from the sisters |
For those have never made a Christmas pudding, please don’t be put off by the eight hours’ steaming – it isn’t any work, it just sits happily on its own getting the long slow cooking which is what gives it such wonderful flavor and character. If you can’t get rum, use any sweet liquor instead.
This pudding can be stored in the fridge, for up to 6 weeks, however, do wrap it tightly for the freshness. To serve, you can eat it as it is at room temperature, or re-steam it for 2 hours to serve warm. Add some melted chocolate sauce or a scoop of ice cream for an after feast dessert!
Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
Who doesn’t love a little chew on a good walnut or almond at Christmas with a mug of hot choco? Or delving into a bowl of mixed unshelled walnuts and pistachio in the early evening. While cracking them with the old-school nutcracker and combining with a strong cinnamon flavor – hot apple cider.
While, for those who couldn’t decide what to get for your Christmas’s gift, why not make it your own. This year, instead of buying a whole load of expensive packets of roasted spiced nuts or honey-roasted ones, make your own!
We love this recipe – it is so much more satisfying to serve up nuts that you have roasted yourself, but it’s also super simple. You can even keep them in an airtight jar for a week, so make them ahead or give them to someone as a little gift. In fact, we have already roasted two rounds this time of the year and deliver to our family and friends for an early holiday’s goodies.
This is a new take on our much-loved recipe. A sweet and salty blend with the heat of cinnamon and the aromatics of butter and honey. Therefore, it is the perfect snack for any occasion: cocktail parties, pre-dinner or as a gift. Honey Roasted Nuts keeps popping up lately on garbanzo beans, veggies, and other dishes in our house and it sounded perfect for a bowlful of warm, toasty mixed nuts.
Ingredients |
400g 6 mini jars
1 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp brown sugar, plus 1 tbsp extra
160g honey
1/4 tsp cinnamon
100g raw nuts (we used almond, cashews, walnuts and pistachio)
Method |
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Place a medium pan over a medium heat, add the butter and honey and cook until the butter has melted.
If using bigger nuts, roughly chop some of them up into halves and quarters to make them more bite size. Place all the nuts onto two large roasting trays. Carefully divide the melted butter and honey mix between the two, then scatter over the paprika. Toss to coat all the nuts, then cook for 20-30 minutes, or until golden all over. Carefully shaking the tray every 10-15 minutes to make sure they cook evenly.
Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
This week A Paint Portrait lets me share one of my favorite portraits that I’ve painted. It featuring a close friend of mine – Sophia, whom I could always rely on. Trust is the glue of life. It’s an essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all friendship. In a friendship, trust is something that is easy to find yet hard to maintain. However, Sophia is a friend that I could put my trust on. As she cares and listens to me like no one could. I won’t be meeting another one like her anymore.
When talking about trust, I came by a message quoted by Marla Gibbs. She once shared, “I truly believe that everything that we do and everyone that we meet is put in our path for a purpose. There are no accidents; we’re all teachers – if we’re willing to pay attention to the lessons we learn, trust our positive instincts and not be afraid to take risks or wait for some miracle to come knocking at our door.” It’s so meaning and inspiring. It let me know that we need to lead a life with helps from people and we will never could be alone.
Who doesn’t love to receive gifts! I (we) love receiving gifts especially those that wrapped nicely. Those beautiful packaging just so lovely what more I enjoying spending time thinking how to package and design the gift before giving to the recipient.
A simple touch of the package could make the gift look like a magic! It makes you would want to patiently unwrap it and looks forward to seeing what is in there. The joy of giving it works well on these food treats as well!
Have you tried one of our favorite festive baking – Hazelnut Madeleines that we shared last week? If you plan to bake some cookie or Madeleines as a gift for friends, you wonder have to pack them nicely. Here is one of our suggestion that you would like to go with!
When gift-wrap your food is always good to have a layer of plastic sheet / baking paper allowing it to help absorbing excess oil from the food. Preventing it from staining the brown paper.
Both of us love to collect washi tapes, especially those from MT Washi Tapes – however, we do not have a main store in Singapore, therefore, we would search around for special design. The ones we using above was found at Crate and Barre their Christmas’s baskets. Many different stationary or home stores carries MT Washi Tapes but it requires you to spend the time to search for these little helpers.
Supplies |
Wax papers / Baking papers
Brown Papers /
MT Washi Tapes
Pen Knife
Scissor
Strings
Method |
Start by cutting the wax and brown paper into a long rectangular shape, with 3 equal ratios of square.
With the brown paper as the outer layer and the wax paper as the inner. Fold 2 of the square, tape the side of it using clear tape to secure it. Now cut the 3rd square into half to create a lid.
You now can fill the “goodies bag” with all your snacks and gift. After you are done, close the lid and secure it with some cute strings. Seal it up with the washi tape at the intersection point. And you are all done.
Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
For those who love pumpkin recipes, a very valuable thing to master this step of making homemade pumpkin puree. As soon as I see those little sugar pumpkins (also called pie pumpkins) show up in the market, it’s time to made some homemade pumpkin puree.
Fresh pumpkin isn’t to be feared, even if you have canned pumpkin. There are a few different ways to prepare from-scratch pumpkin puree at home. It’s great to make this recipe ahead and freeze so that you’ll have plenty on hand to add to seasonal sides or your go-to pumpkin pie.
Listing off all the things I can now make with my fresh batch of homemade pumpkin puree. There are so many things you can make…from savoury dishes to delicious desserts—the possibilities are endless. Typically, you should be able to find sugar pumpkins beginning in September. Where I live in Singapore, I’m only able to find them during the fall but perhaps they may be a bit easier for you to find at other times of the year where you live.
Before I forget, as in most cases, homemade pumpkin puree tastes so much better and fresher than the canned stuff. When you see how easy it is to do, you’ll never look back. You can use the pumpkin puree in any recipe that calls for canned puree. As a general rule, 3 pounds of fresh pumpkin will yield about 3 cups of mashed and cooked pumpkin.
Some of the tips when making pumpkin puree:
Use only sugar/pie pumpkins to make puree for recipes and not use carving pumpkins (the larger kind used to carve a jack o’ lanterns). Although, I haven’t tried it myself, but I’ve read in multiple articles that carving pumpkins produce bland, stringy puree. It doesn’t taste good.
From our photographs, the colour of the puree will be paler than the canned ones which tend to be darker in tone. This is because the pumpkins used for cans is a different sugar pumpkin variety.
The puree will be a little runnier than the canned ones which are more “packed,” this will not affect your recipes but if you prefer yours to be less runny, line a colander with a cheesecloth and put your finished puree in. Place the colander over a large bowl and let it sit for a while so the extra moisture drains out.
For this recipes, you don’t require many ingredients as the only thing you need is the just pumpkin! Starts by preheating oven to 200C.
Cut the pumpkin in half. Using a metal spoon and/or your hands, scoop out the seeds and strings. (Do not throw away your pumpkin seeds, as you could check on our Roasted Pumpkin Seed recipes) Place pumpkins skin-side up on a baking sheet. Roast for 50-60 minutes or until flesh is soft and fragrant.
After removing from the oven, allow the pumpkins to cool until they can be safely handled.
Use a metal spoon to scoop out the flesh. Puree the flesh of one pumpkin at a time in a high-speed blender. Puree’ on low speed, then increase to high for about 20-30 seconds. Periodically, scrape the container down as the pumpkin really sticks to the side. Blend again for 30-40 seconds, stopping to scrape when needed, blend until smooth. Pumpkin can be pureed using a food processor as well.
I like to store my puree in freezer bags at 400g each. This is the same amount one would find in a can of pumpkin puree’. I’ve frozen my puree up to 4 months and have had good results.
An alternative freezing method that I’ve used is to freeze the puree’ in ice cube trays, pop the puree’ out when frozen and place in freezer bags. This is convenient when making smoothies or you need a smaller quantity of pumpkin.
For two sugar pie pumpkins, I yielded three freezer bags of 400g each.
Don’t you find that it is simple in making? Why not start making some delicious dishes with this easy making pumpkin puree. Following are the recipes you might want to try out with.
While I was searching inspiration for baking designs I found all these adorable ideas. They are so beautiful and lovely, don’t you think so?
When coming to this festival holiday the most exciting thing that happening since I was a child was to have all this delicious sweets and delights delivered out from the bakery. Whenever I visit a bakery, my face will stick on their cakes display panel. All cakes and pastry they look extremely beautiful like the jewel and crystal in the fancy glass case. I was a greedy child that wish to have them all but in the end my mum only allow each of us to get one!
Even though I love cakes and pastry from the bakery, I must not forget to say my mum make amazing dessert and cakes too. Every holiday, both Joe and I will set the dining table waiting patiently for her delicious making. When we get older we love to make ourselves, try different methods, making different dessert every year for the most important day – Christmas.
I must say every holiday there were lots of baking in our kitchen, therefore investing a good oven is essential for us. Finally the end of last year we got one amazing built-in oven. It’s like a dream come true for us! And, that is one thing that I never would regret it even though it is costly at that point of time.
Why not start some baking during this holiday season, never have an empty table without food. We are sharing many more baking ideas during this holiday season, follow our blog and stay tuned more thought!
Happy Monday!
xoxo, Angela.
Credit | All shots used on the Christmas mood board via our Pinterest boards.
Making a good mocktail, it can be tasted as good as a glass of cocktail. Even though it will be different but the flavor will be astonishing still. I love to experience a variation of mocktails since I do not like to drink booze.
While, I’m pleased that Angela fancied them whenever I made it. Ever since I begin to experience a different kind of recipes at home. And, she just wants more from me.
As we like both cucumber and ginger as they are inexpensive and easily get from the market. They have lots of advantages and here are some of the reason why we like to use them in our drink
Cucumber will keep you hydrated and allow you to flushes out toxins. If you are too busy to drink water or find water tasteless, you might want to try to have cucumber instead.
Cucumber has a fresh taste.
Ginger helping in indigestion and nausea. Therefore, it is excellent after the meal.
We would love to drink Cucumber Ginger Mocktail.
Cucumber Ginger Mocktail is fairly simple to make it as you can prepare Cucumber Ginger syrup ahead for days. When coming to a special day, you can have it served with tonic, it will a beautiful glass of bubbly mocktail for the guest.
For those who doesn’t want to serve it with carbonated drinks, you can mix it will chill plain water. We promised that this tastes refreshing for a hot tropical island (Singapore) like us.
Share with us your making and take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
It has been a tough week for December. There is lot’s of tasks and errands for me to complete. Sometimes I have been wondering is it because I really have a lot to do or am I bad at time management. However, how could I have a balanced life? How could I stop myself from procrastinating? How could I have a good sleep? As I almost don’t have any “ME” time for myself.
So recently I have tried to sleep and wake early to complete my stuff. Lavender really helps me a lot, it helps to calm myself down. Sometimes you really need to care less. As one do make a difference but it doesn’t do much.
Speaking about gatherings – before the year end there are Thanksgiving, Christmas, many Lunch or Dinner Party, as hostess, it necessitates preparing a spread for our guest to make them feel like a home. For me, I always thought that a starter is the most essential for a gathering. Upon entering a house, you will be welcome with food and drink, and what is better than that to kick start any conversation.
I enjoyed food a lot, as I think that is one of the things that is the most important to me in my life. They give me happiness that you can’t get anywhere while nothing could give me. Therefore, when coming to food, both of us will give in plenty of thought and effort in it.
We enjoyed creation – in the design and putting our imagination in every pieces or idea. That why we emphasis on hospitality for guests, despite, we do not have luxury time for it, always. Here, we like to suggestions for those occupied hosts or hostess, many considered that it always difficult to prepare all by themselves. However, the ideas and procedures we are sharing it just take you 15 minutes.
Even though snacking is the best entertainment but we need to take note of the state of health as well. Therefore, you could consider to made these Sesame-Chia Seeds Crackers along with the addictive dips for the guest upon arriving – it would be a gracious hospitality.
Ingredients |
For the Sesame-Chia Seeds Crackers:
2 cups, whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon, salt
½ tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon, dried oregano
1 teaspoon, red chilli flakes
230ml, warm water
1 tablespoon, olive oil
Garnishing for Sesame-Chia Seeds Crackers: (Mix the ingredients together)
2 teaspoon, white sesame seeds
1 teaspoon, nigella seeds
2 teaspoon, black sesame seeds
Method |
In a bowl, add flour, salt, parsley, oregano, chilli flakes, olive oil and mix. Add 1 cup of warm water and knead into a smooth soft dough. Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough rest for 20 mins.
Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees centigrade. Divide the dough into 6 to 7 equal sized smooth balls. Take one ball, dust it with flour and roll it out into a thin disc of either oval or rectangular shape. Roll it out as thin as possible. Carefully spread the rolled out disk on a baking tray or cookie tray.
Brush the top with little water and sprinkle the seed mix on the top. Bake for 10 to 12 mins or until light brown and crisp. Take it out and cool completely.
Serve them with Hummus or with any other dip of your choice. For us, we serve it with our Chive and Blue Cheese and Almond Pesto dips.
For the Chive and Blue Cheese Dips:
250g of Cream Cheese
2 tbsp of Blue Cheese
a handful of Chive, chopped
Firstly we start by preparing chive and blue cheese dips as it is a very simple one. As you just have to mix the above ingredients in a bowl and you are all done.
For the Almond Pesto Dips:
2 cups of green vegetables (we used basil leaves and baby spinach)
The preparation of this almond pesto dips maybe a bit complicated than the previous one. However, if have the hang of it, it is as simple as a piece of cake. For this pesto, you have to slightly roast the almond in the oven or a frying pan till golden brown. Next, put the roasted almond and rest of the ingredient in the blend. Mix it till smooth, now you are ready to go off for your party.
Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
Madeleine is a traditional small cake from Commercy and Liverdun in northeastern France. They are small sponge cakes with a shell-like shape, traditionally flavored with just vanilla, but some also include lemon zest, which is also one of our the favorites.
Madeleines!! We are ridiculous, disproportionately excited by these little cakes. Sunday was a pretty amazing day; my house was full of endless conversation and baked goods. We baked, photographed, shared stories, and surprisingly ate! I’ll post all the recipes eventually, but for today, with autumn finally here and a cup of tea in hand, these hazelnut madeleines are just perfect.
So we wanted to start my Christmas inspired baking with simple, sweet, light and airy madeleines and they are unbelievable yum! This one has hazelnut infused with the sweetness of nuts giving it a wonderful twist and the sweet and spicy aroma of hazelnut, rum and vanilla are just delightful! The basic madeleine is just the right kind of sweet with a cup of hot coffee right? This one infuses nut and alcohol to give a delicious twist to the French Madeleine.
Personally, we think they are miniature versions of cupcakes which look like cookies! What do you say? Not really sure why they are classified as cookies! Yes, we know some cookies are soft and gooey as opposite to crunchy and chewy but Madeleines are light and airy, soft and spongy like cake! Yup we are going to say they are like butterfly kisses sent from a cupcake Ok so here is how we made them!
Ingredients |
15g melted butter, for greasing the tray
15g flour, for flouring the tray
155g caster sugar
155g butter
80g flour, sifted
80g hazelnut meal
3 jumbo eggs (approx 200g)
1tbsp Chocolate alcohol
Method |
Melt the butter over a gentle heat, keep heating until the butter turns golden brown. Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl. This stops the cooking and prevents the butter burning, leave to cool a little.
Put the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer if you have one, or use a handheld electric mixer, add the sugar and whip until thick and pale. Add the flour and ground hazelnuts and gently fold in. Add the Chocolate alcohol and melted butter, mix until combined.
Cover the surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate for somewhere between 2 hours and overnight. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Generously butter your madeleine tray, dust with flour then tap the tray on your bench to remove the excess
using a piping bag, pipe the batter into the trays, filling each shell 3/4 full, if you don’t have a piping bag just use a couple of spoons.
Bake in the center of your oven for 12-15 mins, the madeleines should be brown and crisp around the edges, and spring back when lightly pressed in the center. Tip the little cakes onto a cooling rack, allow to cool for five minutes or so dip the base of each cake in the rum chocolate then press into the chopped nuts, consume as soon as possible!
How to make the rum chocolate?
120 ml thickened cream
1 tablespoon chocolate alcohol
Whisk the thickened cream into soft peak for about 20 minutes. Add in the chocolate alcohol and whisk it for another 10 minutes. To store it, cover with the lid and store in the fridge, it will keep for 2 weeks.
Some tips from us (the sister) before we end this post;
Use room-temperature eggs as they expand in volume when beaten. If you forget to take them out of the fridge, submerge chilled eggs in warm water for several minutes.
Rest the batter in the refrigerator for at least one hour. 3 hours is ideal. I usually just refrigerate the batter overnight. It helps to create the bump to form.
Don’t be shy on butter when coating the mold. It helps you take Madeleines out of the pan after baking as well as achieving nice golden color.
Use a 1 Tbsp. measuring spoon to transfer the batter. It’s the easiest way to measure the exact amount of each mold and not overfill.
Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
Now, pumpkin seeds are the anomaly here because in my mind they taste nothing like pumpkins. Even though they; well make pumpkins. Or come from them? Chicken and the egg scenario here, people. Anyways, getting off track. Besides being delicious when roasted, they also bring back sweet memories of roasting them with my mom after carving pumpkins with my sister. This Sunday was a rainy, rainy day- and roasting up some seeds while staying cozy inside just seemed like the right thing to do.
Thus, I present you with the BEST roasted pumpkin seeds ever!!
Some tips for you before we dig into the flavor recipes, we want to give you a quick tutorial for how to roast pumpkin seeds. It’s a breeze.
First up, obviously, you need some raw pumpkin seeds. You can fish these out from the pumpkin you save them from the pie pumpkins you roasted to make a puree.
The next step is cleaning the excess pumpkin from the actual seeds. I recommend picking out any big chunks you can and composting them or feeding them to your roving flock of chickens (which is kinda the same thing as composting).
Once you have the seeds mostly separated, fill up a big bowl of warm water and dunk in the seeds. Use your hand and swirl them around a bit to loosen any pumpkin guts remaining. Then, let the seeds rest for about five minutes or so. In that five minutes, magic happens! The seeds all float, and the remaining pumpkin guts sink.
Remember to pat it dry with a towel before you put your olive oil and seasoning.
Ingridents|
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Method |
Wash your pumpkin seeds off to get rid of as much pumpkin goop as possible. You can leave some in like me, you get to taste some pumpkin in it.
Toss your seeds with your olive oil and spices and spread out evenly on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes, taking them out and stirring/flipping halfway through.
Let cool for a minute and enjoy!
Well, that was fun! I loved making all these roasted pumpkin seeds (and eating them, too!). I hope you like them, too. And I hope you’ll experiment and make up your own creations! You really can’t go wrong here, so don’t be afraid to have some fun. Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours! Happy fall, friends!
This week A Paint Portrait lets me to share why I really love this amazing individual, Mey. Mey has a unique taste with her perception and through her arts, you will find it so quiet and peacefulness.
While some people have a mistaken idea that all thoughts disappear through meditation and we enter a state of blankness. There certainly are times of great tranquility when the concentration is strong and we have few, if any, thoughts. But other times, we can be swamped with memories, plans or random thinking. Seeing her shots it just makes me feel that way.
Somehow each of her photographs tells a story but it a story that up to our imagination, we will not know until she reveals it!
When it comes time to decorate our house We like to use something a bit more unique, something creative, something we made. Our decorations don’t have to be fancy or expensive. In fact, we love when we see some innovative twists on basic decorations. As they inspire us to comes up with something new for our house each year.
No place for a Christmas tree at home? This simple Christmas Tree Garlands will be the easiest and simple this to put at your home. Garlands can be more fun as an adult to make than it was as a child making garlands out of construction paper. Garland making is pretty simple and can make for a fun Girls Night In. All you have to do is gather a bunch of garland making supplies, a few bottles of wine, and girlfriends for a fun night of holiday cheer and creativity. Some eggnog and Christmas cookies might help, too.
We’ve got the tutorial on how to make your own adorable, old-fashioned garland. To create this you might need a bunch of tips and tricks. As it isn’t as easy as you might think! Plus, how to keep it fresh for years.
To store garland tangle-free, carefully wind them around cardboard wrapping paper tubes.
Garland has more impact when it is doubled up.
All you need for this project is some construction paper and strings. Start by cutting the paper into a square, the bigger your square is the bigger you got. Start by creating guiding lines by folding the paper in half in both horizontal and vertical way.
To create a more guiding line by folding into a triangle allowing your to have a perfect Christmas Tree. Leave the paper in a triangle shape. This time hold onto the center line and fold in making a square. Do it on the other side.
On this small square, fold the sides into the center line, creating a small triangle. Do in on both sides for the front and back.
Cut away the extra parts leaving the folding triangle. When doing with kids please supervise them and be careful with the scissors.
Here comes the tricky part, stuck in the triangle to form a square back.
Make 3 symmetrical cuts at the two sides and start folding one after another. Fold it slightly to create the tree shape. Do it for the bottom 2 slot for all sides. And now you are off to go.
String it up equally to create this beautiful garland or you can make different sizes and color, leaving it as a centerpiece for your table. This garland may require you sometime yet you won’t regrets as the result will be stunning.
Decorating for Christmas is always more fun with friends, so stay tuned for more post on the food you can make for your Christmas party! And, best of all, after the holidays, you can carefully wrap up the garland and display it again next year.
Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
Nobody would want to miss a Pumpkin Pie during Thanksgiving! It is the best seasonal food you would want to have a taste! For those, do not want to spend time making the pie crust, grab your pen and paper and take down this recipe. It doesn’t require any baking – a simple pie to be made, but a tricky one!
We spent the majority of our incredibly awesome weekend before thanksgiving testing pumpkin pie recipes. And when we say awesome, we really mean frustrating because testing the perfect pumpkin pie recipe is a lot more challenging than one would assume. Fresh pumpkin, canned pumpkin, ginger, no ginger, brown sugar, white sugar, cornstarch, flour, no cornstarch, no flour, and O-M-G how do we decorate it and make it look pretty on serving?
But I think we cracked the pumpkin pie code. We grew up in a house of pumpkin pie lovers especially our grandma and absolutely no Thanksgiving was complete without a nap, and then a massive slice and an even bigger serving of cool whip. What we’re trying to say is, our pumpkin pie standards are high. When it comes to this Thanksgiving classic, we’re a huge snob. And now that we’ve found the recipe, we can rest easy at night. And you can too! Because we’re sure finding a tasty pumpkin pie recipe haunts your dreams as well.
The most important ingredients for this recipe is – the pumpkin. Fresh or canned? We have tested this recipe with both and we truly liked the pie using fresh pumpkin better. The fresh pumpkin pie was a little more sturdy when baked for the same amount of time. We prefer the pie to taste grainy and a little… herbaceous? Although fresh pumpkin is used best in savory recipes, not desserts. This is your call, you can use either.
For those who prefer not like to get already-made Pumpkin Puree, you will like to know how to made your own. Stay tuned for the upcoming post on, how to make your own Pumpkin Puree”!
Since this is such a classic recipe, we snapped a lot of pictures of the process as well as the finished products. Yes, just to be sure this recipe was the best of the very best. We’re crazy, as you know. So, what makes it so great?
We love eating the biscuits base, it is soft and less heavy than the tarts shells. Moreover, it is easier and less time consuming. We enjoyed making unbaked cream cheese pie, it’s simple. Our grandma loves this Deep-Dish Pumpkin Pie, it creamy, soft and it just melts the second you put in your mouth.
Ingredients |
1 packet of gingersnap
1 can pumpkin purée (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
3/4 cup cream cheese
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tsp of gelatin
Method |
Arrange a rack in the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 200°C. Blend your gingersnap with melted butter in the food processor till sandy texture. Flatten it to the 9-inch pan and bake it for 15 minutes. Leave it to cool.
Combine the pumpkin purée, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, and spices in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment or blender. Blend until the brown sugar is completely mixed in and the purée looks glossy. Dissolve the gelatine in 2 tbsp of water over a heat in a pot. Pour the gelatine mixture into the pumpkin mixture.
Whisk in the milk and cream. To warm the eggs and ensure that they don’t cook when you add them to the pumpkin mixture, whisk them together in a separate bowl, then whisk in a few spoonfuls of the warm pumpkin mixture. Slowly whisk the eggs into the saucepan with the pumpkin mixture. Whisk in the vanilla.
Pour the mixture into the biscuit shell, tap the air bubbles and fridge it for overnight.
We set up this Christmas table in my studio, where we also have a handy window seat – used here as a desserts and drinks buffet. For the cozy factor again, we lit up some votive candles inside golden star-shaped holders for the glistening touch. Totally magical!
Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
How’s your weekend so far? Christmas is coming nearer and nearer. How the Christmas preparation for your side? It’s okay that you don’t, it not too late to start.
Not into traditional Santa red for Christmas? How about to go a little more traditional with a Gorgeous Sparkling Christmas. Mix in a few different shades of sparkling – from rose gold to champagne – to pull together this tree that truly shines! We started with amazing gold and glittered glass bulbs, added in poinsettias in similar golden hues…
To add more depth and texture use wooden snowflakes, glittered pinecones, feathered picks and more! To complete the rustic and warm feel, you can surround your house with a burlap-wrapped base and neutral gifts.
We are so excited for Christmas, how about you? Happy Monday!
xoxo, Joe.
Credit | All shots used on the Christmas mood board via our Pinterest boards.
It’s already December the last month of this year. It has been a real good year, the world, my family and friends all treat me well. Therefore I am going to maintain this happiness and walk toward a new year.
So recently I have been trying different water painting method, wet on wet, wet on dry and more. However, there’s something very new that I m doing right now – which is calligraphy. What do you think? I am still a newbie to it but I believe someday I can master it. In order for me to do so, to achieve my goals. Currently, I’m already planning for my new year resolution, the things I should do and the things I shouldn’t do.
“It is December, and nobody asked if I was ready.” ― Sarah Kay
It’s already December, it means our year will be coming to an end soon. To make our year meaningful and happy, we have been trying to do a lot of new and interesting stuff. Such as we have been rewarding us with good meals, especially for our favorite brunch period.
Rather than making the usual pancake that has butter and maple syrup on top. We decided to make some savory pancake – Savoury Pancakes with Tofu & Spinach stuffing.
This ultra-savoury beauty is full of rich flavours and the heavenly textures of soft, warm vegetables and just melting cheese. Simply gently fry some tofu and finely sliced onion in a drizzle of oil until lightly golden and caramelised, while wilting a few handfuls of fresh spinach leaves. Spoon in your pancake, top with yoghurt drizzle, a pinch of freshly ground black pepper and some finely chopped fresh red chilli for a wonderful kick at the end of each mouthful.
“These pancakes make a versatile base for any spicy filling, and it’s easy to double quantities to feed a crowd – a brilliant option for a reviving post-party brunch. ”
Actually this is a very easy recipe to make, I can say that it’s only the ingredients that looks fancy. There is two parts for these dish – part one is the making of pancake and part two is the making of the filling. We usually like to mixing the mixture for the pancake and leave it to “set” for around 15 minutes. This setting period allows the air bubbles to set and give a soft and chewy texture to the pancake.
While leaving the mixture to “set” we when on to cook our fillings. This filling is fabulously flavorful and has a texture similar to classic paneer, but is 100 percent vegan. If you are like us and are making resolutions for the New Year to eat less meat, this is a perfect recipe to start with.
This is a great thing to have on hand to make a quick Desperation Brunch – so we like to keep some small zip lock baggies of this magical stuff in my freezer. This stuff makes great sloppy joes and last-minute brunch!
Ingredients|
225 g plain flour
3 large free-range eggs
300 ml semi-skimmed milk
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
3 spring onions
6 sprigs of fresh coriander
6 sprigs of fresh mint
2 fresh green chillies
1 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon curry powder
optional: plain yoghurt, chopped coriander and diced red chilli , to serve
Ingredients needed for pancake filling:
400 g fresh baby spinach , or defrosted frozen spinach
vegetable oil
400 g paneer
1 onion
5 cm piece of ginger
3 cloves of garlic
1 tps of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon curry powder
4 tablespoons double cream
1 lemon
Method |
Start by making your filling. Blanch the spinach in a pan of boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes, or until wilted. Drain in a colander, squeeze out any excess water, then blitz in a food processor until roughly puréed. Set aside.
Cut the paneer into 1.5cm cubes. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wide non-stick frying pan, then stir-fry the paneer for 2 to 3 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Peel and thinly slice the onion, then peel and finely grate the garlic and ginger. Put to one side.
Heat 2 more tablespoons of oil in the same frying pan. Add the black mustard seeds and cumin seeds and stir-fry for about 30 seconds, until they begin to become fragrant, then add the onion and fry over a low heat for about 5 to 6 minutes, or until softened.
Add the grated ginger, garlic and curry powder to the pan and continue to cook for a further minute or so. Then, stir in the spinach and cook over a medium heat for another 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the paneer and cream. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until piping hot. Squeeze in half the lemon juice, then taste and season, adding more lemon juice, if you like. Put to one side and keep warm.
To make the pancakes, place the flour in a large bowl and season with sea salt. Make a pit in the center and add the eggs and half of the milk.
Melt the butter in a medium non-stick frying pan (roughly 20cm). Allow to cool a little, then add to the batter along with the remaining milk. Whisk everything until smooth.
Trim and finely slice the spring onions and chillies (deseeding if you like), then pick and finely chop the herb leaves. Stir it all into the batter, along with the cumin seeds and turmeric until well combined. Leave the batter to rest for at least 15 minutes.
Lightly grease the frying pan with oil and place over a medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add a ladleful of batter, turning the pan so it evenly and thinly coats the base. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until set and lightly golden. Flip over with a spatula and cook the other side for another minute, until golden.
Slip the pancake onto a warm plate and keep covered with a clean tea towel while you make the rest of the pancakes. You should have 8 in total.
When you’re ready to serve, place large spoonfuls of the spinach and paneer mixture in the middle of each pancake and fold into triangles or roll up to enclose the filling.
Drizzle with a little yogurt and scatter over some chopped coriander and diced red chilli (if using). You could also serve the stack of pancakes with all the accoutrements on the table and just let everyone help themselves.
Tips from the two sisters: Savory veggie-filled pancakes for breakfast or any meal. This is our go-to meal when we come home late and don’t feel like cooking. Experiment with another veggie, meat, and cheese combinations. Whether you’re on a cleanse or just trying to add healthier options to your breakfast table, we recommend choosing high quality ingredients whenever possible.
Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
We knew that mains are always the highlights of any feast! Hence, how could we neglect the supporters for the show?
Therefore, here is one of our hot pick for this holiday – Salmon & Ricotta Cups with the Smoked Salmon and crackers. We don’t just simply serve this appetizer just the way they are but we preferred to make this along with a cheese board if possible.
Salmon is one of our top favorite indulgences, along with steak tartare and foie gras. We love salmon served in the traditional manner, alongside ricotta cheese with a generous amount of drills and lemon juice.
Warm, toasted bagels are the best. However for me, just about any crackers or bread sticks will do because it’s mostly about the salmon itself.
(Warning: it also takes less than five minutes to consume an entire bowl, so beware!)
It is very simple in preparation, just poach your salmon fillet and mixed it with other ingredients like ricotta cheese and drills. This is the best recipe when you are preparing a more complex main dish. As it helps you to save time yet it does not look like a “no effort” dish. Below are the ingredients and methods you needs for this dish. You can adjust the amount of ingredients base on how much you need.
Ingredients |
1 fillet of salmon, bone removed
250g ricotta cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice
a handful of dill
Prawn roe for garnish
Method |
Cook the salmon fillet in the pot with the water filled covering the salmon. Cook it for at least 5 minutes, do not overcook it. Dry it with a towel and remove the skin of the salmon.
Break the salmon into smaller pieces and beat all ingredients together until well combined. Spoon into a serving bowl and garnish with prawn roe. Serve with crackers and vegetable sticks.
Don’t you think isn’t it as easy as you can imagine? As you look around a little and you’ll find hundreds of recipes for the salmon spread. While some of them include mayonnaise or yogurt. Others call for fish that’s been, smoked, poached, or pickled. It’s such a flexible, versatile food you can use it with almost anything. Here, we’re keeping it simple. Fresh salmon paired with lemon juice, dill, and low-fat ricotta cheese will yield irresistible appetizers.
Tips from the sisters | No tips as it is as simple as it shown however we suggested you can serve it with some of your adorable tea cups collection! For us, we love our Aladdin glassware.
Share with us your version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Therefore, always remember that you have the strength, the patience, and the passion for reaching for the stars for changing the world within you. Thus, these are the way how Neiw inspired me. He is someone who inspired me with his dream as he becoming someone he always dreams of!
Therefore, what I learned from he is following your passion, be prepared to work hard and sacrifice, and, above all, don’t let anyone limit your dreams. As we should believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. Dreams are more powerful than facts and hope always triumphs over experience.
Even though Thanksgiving has just ended, but it is the beginning of the celebration. Right after Thanksgiving indicates Christmas is coming on its way! While everybody is getting ready for the actual day, for many of you might be like us pondering what to prepare for the feast! It’s a special to gather together with family and friends they’re the reason we treat it importantly on such a special day.
We have many ideas to try out, We planned to prepare ahead to prevent hassle on the actually day! Therefore upcoming weeks, we are sharing quite a few different recipes that we like it a lot to you all. Maybe you could have a try to prepare that for your gatherings or giving gifts!
It has been cold during this festival and what is better than a glass of chilled citrus sweet tea to kick start your feast! It is refreshing, tasteful filled with a great scent of orange, lemon, and Gin! I love this recipe a lot, maybe because of my love for the citrus and Gin. It’s a very simple recipe that you could try with it for any occasions.
Ingredients |
8 cups water
4 black tea bags
1 lemon, juiced
1 orange, juiced
Gin (Personally preferred Bombay Sapphire Gin)
Method |
Prepared a large saucepan, heat water just until it comes to a rapid boil. Remove from heat and drop in the tea bags. Cover and let steep for about 20 minutes.
In a 2 quart pitcher, combine the steeped tea, discarding the tea bags. Stir until dissolved. Continue to cool to room temperature. Stir in lemon, orange juice, and gin.
Refrigerate until chilled. Serve over ice.
Tips from the two sisters |
Here are some tips that I would like to share with, it’s best not to add the citrus until the tea is completely cooled. Even better to chill the cooled citrus tea, as recommended, to let the flavors meld. Also, cooling too fast brings out the tannin, causing cloudy tea. Should any tea become cloudy, just add a little boiling water to clear it up.
For those who decide to serve on any festival’s gathering, this could be preparing a day ahead for any parties. After mixing them with our recipe above, chilled in the fridge for the serving. That’s it!
With shots of Gin, it intensifies the flavor of the glass of ice tea. For those who are planning for different groups of the guest, you could separate the non-alcoholic and the alcoholic drink in two different portions.
Our suggestion is having the non-alcoholic Orange & Lemon Ice Tea in a fruit punch bowl for the younger guest while the alcoholic ice tea in jars. As we take consideration on the weight of the jar for the younger visitor.
Share with us your glass of version! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
Is everyone getting ready for this Christmas? Well, I’m for sure! Seeing the streets are filled lights while the malls are filled with shoppers getting ready for the special day. While the festival mood is just getting closer, I believed that everyone just gets excited each day!
We just love Christmas, the coziest event of the year! While searching ideas for decoration. Upon chance, I discover this fabulous Santa Red, it is the beloved colors for a traditional household decoration. It matches so well with white walls and any texture.
Do stay tuned for more Christmas’s ideas on our blog as well as on our other social media pages! Happy Monday!
xoxo, Angela.
Credit | All shots used on the Christmas mood board via our Pinterest boards.
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year because it reminds us to give thanks and to count our blessings. Suddenly, so many things become so little when we realize how blessed and lucky we are. However, I always remind myself to be thankful every day for everything. As we always though that we have the time to be thankful. For me I know, we don’t!
So you may have heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There’s another day you might want to know about: Giving Tuesday. The idea is pretty straightforward. On the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, shoppers take a break from their gift-buying and donate what they can to charity. So what will you do on this Tuesday?
Thanksgiving – celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November – is the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas songs try to say otherwise, but it just doesn’t get better than expressing gratitude for all you have in your life, getting together with loved ones and stuffing yourself silly with one of my favorite Thanksgiving classics.
This year we decided to host our first Thanksgiving Brunch among our family members. As we would like to appreciate the help, the joys each of the family members brought us. We would like to thanks them for their understanding and also ask for their forgiven for the mistakes and trouble we brought to them. Nevertheless, we would also want to be thankful for all the food and love that give us this year as it’s a gift.
The Thanksgiving Brunch we host is rather simple, the menu consists of a simple 3-courses meal. A day that filled with the savory and sweet aromas from all the delicious food we’re preparing. We thought that it can help to reduce other sensory input at the table. After much consideration, we decide to go ahead with the Thanksgiving theme we dream of. Amazing glittering gold with a touch of floral and a hint of Autumn. It gives us a warm and home feeling with a classic touch during this season.
We decided to go ahead with some festival drink homemade Orange-&-Lemon Ice Tea. Following with the starter, Salmon & Ricotta Cups served along with smoked salmon, crackers, and bread stick. Each guest was being served with fleshy made pancake. This recipes are the best combination for each other. It balanced up the palette that we have on the plate. Not saying that they are all easy and simple to made, which means not much preparation are needed.
The joyful noon was filled with laughter and we end the brunch with a slice of Deep-dish Pumpkin Icebox Pie. What is a Thanksgiving without Pumpkin? This time we made ourselves aDeep-dish Pumpkin Icebox Pie using the homemade pumpkin puree that we made. We made this pie 2 days ahead as it required a more time than rest. However, they are worth the time making it.
To complete the thanksgiving brunch, we added a little touch to the plate. We have made a welcome card on each of the plate, you could personalities it by writing the guest name instead. It gives us a welcoming and warming atmosphere. For our Thanksgiving, we have appetizers, dessert, and drinks covered, how about you?
Although it is a short time that we have spent together but a little sharing and giving is all we could ask for. Check out the dream Thanksgiving menu that we served on our Thanksgiving. Too late for Thanksgiving, it is okay. You can use them for your upcoming festival’s brunch too.
Share with us your thanksgiving too! Take a photo of your Thanksgiving, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
People believe that the heroes are one in many thousands, but I want to say that a sister like you (her) is always one in a lifetime. However, sister always helps you in understanding the world better and also appreciates it more than anyone else. I know it better as that’s how it have been for the past 24 years.
Today is a special day, a day that filled with blessing and love. 24 years ago, I was waiting patiently outside the ward for my mom and going-to-be baby sister to come out. I don’t actually remember how it was but the moment I saw her, I knew she was someone special that I love – she is my sister, Joe.
She is a gift from my parent that never could be replaced. Joe will be always my baby sister who is always cheering me up, loving me unconditionally whatever I am. I would want to give her all my blessing and ask for her forgiven in all the ridiculous that we fight, we joke, we argue for. I will always love you!
Sleeping with a sleeping mask has been so essential for me since the beginning of this year. I’m a light sleeper and it took me hours to fall asleep, however with a sleeping mask, it allows me to have a well rested night. For those who decide to get something comfortable and cheap why not spend sometimes sew your own sleeping mask?
This sleeping mask is also perfect for those who want to catch a small nap when you’re traveling. Whether you are flying a red eye or sharing a cabin by the lake, there are many reasons to shut out the light from the outside world to help catch some quality shut-eye. Sewing a travel eye mask is a super quick and easy project. And, as it only takes a little bit of fabric, it is a great stash-buster too! Whip up a few for the whole family so you can all get some beauty sleep on your next vacation.
Other than using the basic sleeping eye mask shape that we have in the market. We redesigned it to make it in a cloud shape. It gives a dreamy feeling, seems like we will always be having a good dream once we wear it. Thus one of the main points of this project is to use the cloudy eye mask template that we designed. In addition to the pattern, you’ll need some basic tools to get the job done.
Some of the materials needed for this project are;
Cloudy eye masks template
Fabric for the outside layers
Felt/Cotton for the lining
Clear ruler
Pins
Scissors
Elastic (this will be visible, so choose a color you like with your fabric)
Thread (note that there is top stitching so choose your thread accordingly)
Tip: Choose fabrics that are comfortable on your face and also easy to wash, as it will get dirty from mascara and face oils and will require frequent washing.
Print out the Cloudy eye masks template on the a4. Once the size is confirmed correct, using your paper scissors, cut out the pattern for the eye mask.
You will need three layers of fabric for the mask. Pin the pattern to the fabric of your choice. For us, we use two different type of materials for both layers of fabric. Fabric on the outside has a rougher surface, allowing us to do embroidery work on it.
Next, we cut one single layer of the batting of your choice. The batting I picked is a thin layer of felt which worked perfectly. For the felt in the middle, a dark colored fabric is used, as it mimics the darkness of night!
4. Measure down from the top of the mask and pin the elastic in place on the right side of the fabric. Repeat on the other side of the mask. The pattern calls for the elastic to be 13 3/8″ in length. Measure your head to make sure that size will fit you correctly. Remember you will loose 3/8″ on either side for the seam allowance. You want it to be fitted, but not too tight.
For us, we worry that the elastic will tangle our hair thus we sew a border around it using a straight stitch. It also gives more detailed for the elastic.
5. Personally, we have fallen in love with embroidery, therefore, while we were designing this Miss Cloudy Sleeping Mask. We decide to have some embroidery work on it. This embroidery work might be tricky in the beginning. However, after awhile we are sure that you will get hooked to it.
6. We wanted the batting to be on the inside facing my eyes, so we pinned slightly different from what the pattern calls for. The order of the fabric will be the batting, inner fabric, the elastic and lastly the outer fabric (the wrong side up). Follow the shape of the fabric, sew it accordingly.
We like to pin the opening at the top parallel to the fabric’s edge and the rest perpendicular to the fabric’s edge. This tells us that this area is to be left open and the difference in pinning gives us an advance warning to stop. Using a 3/8″ seam allowance, sew all the way around the mask, leaving a 2″ opening at the top along the flat edge.
7. Use the curvy end of a point turner and open up the seams around the entire mask. At the opening left along the top of the mask, fold the seam allowance into the inside. Take your time to finger press the edges as to create a smooth line.
8. Pin the opening closed and press with an iron if necessary. Top stitch around the perimeter of the entire mask, closing the opening left in the top at the same time. Use a 1/4-1/8″ seam allowance and a thread color you like on top of your fabric.
You may also use an iron, give the mask a final press, and that’s it! These turned out so cute and were easy to make! So they would be a great personalized gift for someone special. I’m hoping that my eye mask will make you feel more at home when you’re away and help you to have the sweetest dreams!
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
It’s mid of November right now and all of us might not want to admit but this year passes quickly! For us, it has been a challenging year, it has been a wonderful 11 months!
Yet, if it possible, everyone wants it to be better than what it should be. This is a great chance to reflect the past and get your pen to list down your bucket list for the next month or before the year end!
Question: Summaries your achievement in 2016 or list down your goals for the month of the year end.
Angela: “It’s has been an amazing year, yet. I met great people and I’ve been closer to my friends and family. I cleared out bad things that influence me in my life and treasure the good ones. Before the year end, I wish that we could produce more good stuff for our reader.”
Joe: “2016 is a challenging year for me. However, due to these challenges I have, it helps me gain more experience and skills. This year I learn to do water painting and also expand my knowledge for 3D drawings. I met new people who have better influences to me and also I learn to communicate better with people around me. Before the year end, I would like to get connect to a friend I haven’t been contacting for awhile. I also would like to create more arts and inspiration for you.”
Date | 8th October 2016
Starting Point – Ending Point | Marang Walk (Harbourfront) – Normanton Park
Duration | 3.15 hrs
Length | Estimate 10km
During last October, Joe and I decided to challenge The Southen Ridges; starting from the Marang Trail up to Mount Faber Park, moving toward the Kent Ridge Park. We were disappointed that both Fatin and Mai couldn’t join us this time as we miss the joy they brought us! Getting ready to join #ourhikingstories through the breezes and scenery we captured through our lens.
We would like to invite you to join #ourhikingstories through the breezes and scenery we captured through our lens. Upon entering the trek, there are endless steps up to the hill. Beautiful scenery and fresh air really motivate us to walk more and finish the trek.
The air surrounded us was fresh and clean, unlike the polluted air along the roadside produce by cars.
After conquering Henderson Waves Bridge, instead of turning to the right for the Forest Walk, we climb upon the Hill Top. The view just took us by a surprise – we were stunned by the terrific rustic marble structure.
Eventually, we have reached the Forest Walk after sweating lots. We love the Forest Walk the most, with us spending significant time here exploring each corner of the structure. I must be said that this is one of my favorite part of trekking. The modern structure built in a forest, it is just simply brilliant.
Joe says she will love it more if the Forest Walk is like a rainforest, the were more trees as a shield. However, I told her this is a nature that we can’t enforce it unless she have it man-made it and it will defeat the purpose.
We had our homemade burgers at Hort Park and spend our time at the park. Every weekend Hot Park are crowded with different ongoing events and Farmer Markets. This is the best place to bring your children and family. However, if you are someone who enjoys quiet and just wanted a place for hiking this may not be a good place.
We decide to move forward to the canopy walk. Upon reaching Kent Ridge Park, what we saw the scenes are unbelievable, isn’t it? Extraordinary – the only one word we can use to describe the beauty of that place. Believe or not, we seem like entering into woods in Japan – the woods grow in the special ways. The fairly thin tree trucks are spread evenly and they are just enchanting.
Question | What is the one best thing that you’ve discovered during your trekking?
Joe : This time I discovered that my country really spent a lot of time and money on building gardens and park for Singapore, which is a beautiful thing. As our country is small thus we have less land. In order for us to be able to preserve such an amazing natural allowing us to have a short getaway from the city. Simply wonderful.
Angela : Discovering little along the way, and finding rare interesting plantation through the woods. While you put on your trek shoes, you could walk around freely to enjoy the breeze, stop when you want to. I suggest to stop and always looking for details and you will discover things normally you won’t able to do so.
#BehindPlainCanvas |
The nature walk is really therapeutic perhaps due to the abundance of oxygen produced by the trees. Nature is important to our well-being and we believe in the healing power of nature. Every time we go for nature, we feel so happy and blissful. Actually, happiness is free really.
To be at one with nature, to see animals and birds and to enjoy fresh clean air are something we take for granted. We must continue to ensure the preservation of nature. After all, the forest is the green lung for the earth. Really can’t wait for the next hiking experience.
So far, as compared to the others trek, the Southern Ridges is relatively easier to accomplish. However, we would say they do have much more steps to climb. This trek requires much more stamina than strength. Therefore this will be the best trek for beginner or people who want to go for a short run.
Topaz – the birthstone of November babies. It is believed to balance emotions and thoughts for a harmonious lifestyle. Which fully who I really am.
It’s already November, which means it’s my birthday month. Other than the staycation I have in the previous weeks, nothing really amazes me this month. As I am going to be older again. Time really passes fast, there was one time I ask my sister how old am I this year? The everyday task really messy up my life.
Some things we make for the love of others. We’ve been known to gaze lovingly at ingredients. Wrap cookies in little bows, and present a friend with a box of still warm chocolate chip cookies at just the right moment. Other things we make because we’re a selfish hungry girl. These doughnuts. Oh my God! These doughnuts we made because we’re a selfish girl who loves loves loves doughnuts.
Three facts with our doughnut-making experience:
These puppies took me about 2 hours and 15 minutes from start to finish. We started craving them and when we sunk our teeth into the first warm doughnut bite around 2pm. Worth every minute! Seriously.
These doughnuts are much easier than we expected, just be careful with the oil splash when you are frying it. Worth it. I’d do it all over again.
Glazing the doughnuts is the most fun thing we do, it is like giving the donuts clothes to wear.
If you’ve never made doughnuts before, here is my advice to you: Oh my God! Take the afternoon off. Turn off your phone. Make these donuts. Eat five to eight, and then promptly walk over to your neighbor’s house and beg them to take the rest off your hands.
What is a party when you don’t have delicious snacks? What is a morning when you don’t have a donut in hand? These donuts will the go-for-it-doughnuts we always made when we have parties, picnic and even for our usual morning. These doughnuts is crispy at the outside yet soft and moisture on the inside. The dough is the most simple one you could ever find. But remember you may only need minutes for them to be cooked, so don’t let them burnt!
Doughnuts with peach and mint icing. As soon as we took the first bite they reminded us of a tall glass of fresh peach lemonade. These are so bright and summery, we can’t get enough of them. But they’re baked so that makes them okay to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight snack, right?
These doughnuts are simple yet tricky for some of us, thus some tips for you if you are gonna give these donuts a try;
We used a 3” cookies cutter and a 1″ pastry tips to cut these doughnuts out.
Be sure to generously grease your doughnuts pan with butter and flour or non-stick spray. If you’re using the spray, we suggest using one that is made specifically for baking, since they typically have flour in them, which helps the doughnuts come out of the bowl effortlessly.
Let these doughnuts rest at a dry and warm place for at least an hour.
Don’t over fry you donuts! Set a timer for a minute and keep an eye on them. Once they’ve risen and slightly spring back when touched, they’re done!
Of course, I had to make a few tweaks to make them my own, you know I can’t follow a recipe without adding my own little twist. The smell that will come out of your kitchen when you’re making these peach and mint doughnuts will be enough to send your entire household running into the kitchen to see what you’re cooking. I hope you all give them a try!
Ingredients |
For the doughnuts:
3½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
⅔ cups sugar, divided
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
vegetable oil, for frying
For the glaze:
7 tbsp of water
½ cup powdered sugar
food colouring
peach and mint essence
Methods |
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In another bowl, mix together the sugar and the butter with a mixer on medium speed until the mixture looks sandy. Beat in the eggs, then the applesauce mixture. Scrape the bowl as needed. Beat in half of the flour mixture, then the buttermilk and vanilla, then the remaining flour. Do not overmix.
Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and flour. Pour the dough out onto the parchment paper, and with floured hands, pat it into a 7×11-inch rectangle. (The dough will be sticky.) Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for an hour.
When ready to make the doughnuts, heat 2 inches of vegetable oil in a large heavy pot to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with paper towels and set aside.
Start the glaze by simmering the water in a small saucepan over medium heat until it is reduced to about ¼ cup. Whisk in the powdered sugar until the glaze is sticky and smooth. Add the coloring and essence to your preference.
Flour a work surface and turn the dough out onto the surface. The dough is still a bit sticky, so make sure there is enough flour down so that the dough doesn’t stick. Lightly roll the dough out to a 9×12-inch rectangle. Using a 3-inch doughnut cutter (or a 3-inch biscuit cutter plus a 1-inch cutter for the center) cut out 12 doughnuts. Add 2 or 3 doughnuts at a time to the hot oil and fry until golden brown and cooked through, 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to the paper towel-lined baking sheet to cool. Repeat with the rest of the doughnuts, including the doughnut holes.
Once cool enough to handle, dip the top of each doughnut into the sugar glaze. Serve the doughnuts warm.
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! There will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories and #OurTableStories profile. Please do check it out whenever you can!
Well, who doesn’t love the productions of Disney and at least dream of going to Disneyland once in the lifetime? Certainly, they are all ages favorite and dream!
It is a place filled with magic and happiness for all ages! Plus, I remembered Walt Disney once said, “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” Which left me a huge impression of having a dream is important since young! Furthermore, is to gather our strength to achieving them.
What is better than pursuing the greatest of what we believe in? As having a dream is a motivation for each and individual of us to move on in our life.
And, I truly believed both Kate and Syamak are two lovely couple that dreams what they believed in and achieving it each of their magical days! You could simply observe it by checking on their Instagram’s accounts – two talented individuals that inspired me!
Lastly, “Remember, you’re the one who can fill the world with sunshine.” – Snow White
Does everyone have a wonderful weekend? We did, our family went for a short staycation the weekend before, and it was wonderful. Angela and I have prepared a girlfriends party while our mother was relaxing by the spa.
We much consideration we decide to have an apricot, mint, and silver theme party. Accompanied with the sweet pastry, stripes, and spring flowers. Thus, today we are going to show you a quick and simple tutorial on how to make these mini pom pom flowers.
These pom pom flowers are best in party decoration, don’t you find them just way adorable?
What I am seeing is a perfect accessory for all kinds of parties and receptions like baby showers, bridal showers, Friendsgiving, Mother’s Day and etc. A pastel theme is most beautifully cater for spring and summer occasions, thus they are great for all year round if you want it!
So let’s pull out all that leftover tissue and make some of these pretty mini pom poms!
This is a very simple tutorial whereby only a few materials are needed:
Fancy tissue papers
Wool strings
Scissor
We found this pretty apricot tissue paper at the craft store after searching high and low, it’s a simple stripe yet gorgeous in shades.
Step 1: Fold 4 sheets of tissue paper a with 7 folds, each fold about 1 inch wide.
Step 2: Tie the folded tissue papers with a wool string. We recommend you to tied it with either white or color string that suits your pom pom. Trim off two sides of the corners into a rounded edge.
Step 3: Open the two side of the rounded edge. While simply pulling apart the layers of tissue, working from one side to the other. Once all the layers are separated, give them a good fluffing with your fingertips. This simple act gives the pom poms a nice, fluffy look. Even though it will take a bit of working with this pom pom flowers, but soon you’ll them all ready to go!
Personally, I have a soft spot with colorful papers and hanging decorations. That make one of my favorite things in the world is garlands.
We’ve been tried coming up with excuses for parties just so we can make them to decor the spaces. While this project is a simple twist on a pom pom garland – by stringing them vertically with paper leaves so they become vines. You can hang them on trees or tie them to a strand across a ceiling to fill up a room.
Therefore, I’m so excited to be teaming up with them today to bring you a quick and easy DIY idea for a perfect backdrop for your next celebration. There will be more creative tutorials coming up!
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!
If you were given a chance to choose a paid job, what kind of job would you choose? Of course, when we could, we would definitely choose a job that we love, wouldn’t you?
For me, if I get to have a job that paid me well, I would want to be a collector to gather all the prettiest things in the world. Since I couldn’t make the dream came into reality yet. Therefore, I’ll be gathering all inspirations by making them into mood boards like a collector.
Back to this week topic, are you prepared for the biggest festival at all time? Christmas is my favorite period of all year! It’s time to get busy preparing delicious foods, shoppings, decors to decorate your rooms with your favorite designs for the special day of the year!
Share with us your favorite Christmas ideas on our blog, Instagram pages!
The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud. Somebody who may not look like you. I may not dance your dances or speak your language. But be a blessing to somebody. That’s what I think.
“Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.”
The week has been buzzing with the breaking news of the new President of United State. It has been a tough year for everyone especially the friends over at U.S. It might not be what everyone has expected (little to I have expected). This might be the first in the history that we had witnessed a crazy battling and dramatic election.
Before we could start worrying any matters that will occur the near future. What could stop you from having a good breakfast to move forward with your every day!
For the busy workers, it surely making a breakfast sound absolutely troublesome (it definitely easy grab along with your way)! However, it is an essential step to kick start every morning, every day of your life!
The past 2 years I have told myself that I would never rush into anything while having my breakfast (it would be great that you could at spend at least 30-45 minutes to finish your meal). In order to have more time sit down to have a proper breakfast without disrupt. While making it quick is the way allow you spending time with a peaceful morning.
Believe or not, it helps me to achieve a better day in my life. Simply a yogurt bowl or a toast will just make the day better (much better).
In order to do that, time-management is very important – spending your night before to prepare could ease up your trouble for the next day. It is a habit for you to practice in a long-term goal.
In the previous post, we have shared the recipe for the guacamole. A simple avocado side to accompany any staples and today, we would love to share with your our favorite Tomato Avocado Toast. It’s fairly simple with taking away your 5 minutes in the morning to prepare.
It common to find tomatoes in our household, we’ll make sure we have tomatoes in our kitchen. Just the other day while we were preparing this dish, we ran out of both the Roma and the Cherry Tomatoes. Therefore, we decide to go along by using the Red Heirloom Tomatoes, it is bigger, less juicy with more fresh bites compare to Roma or Cherry Tomatoes but it tastes sweet and rather crunchy. You may want to cut them into dices and the appearance might not be as pretty as the little beautiful tomatoes that slice into the half but it tastes just the same as it should be. I shall skip the long winded sharing and let’s begin!
Pre-heat the oven. Start by chopping the tomatoes into small cube shape, sprinkle pinch of salt to taste. Cut your bread of choice, spread the butter and bake it for 5 mins. Meanwhile, fry the bacon in the pan till golden brown.
Prepare to serve by layering the cream cheese spread, homemade guacamole, tomatoes at the side and the golden brown bacon. Sprinkle olivie oil, salt and pepper on top to taste.
Tips from the sisters | Always spread a thin layer of butter and toast your bread the last in orderto keep it crispness of the texture.
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! There will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories and #OurTableStories profile. Please do check it out whenever you can!
Cheers, Darlings! What are you drinking for Happy Hour to celebrate the weekend?
As an artist, designer, most of us fears of “plagiarism” (neither ways is unforgivable). Although we have the skills, it couldn’t be stolen away, however, the hard work we spent on the works just priceless. When someone just took it as their it just ridiculous.
With the access to technology, it has been always terrifying to know that people grabbing images online and claims that belong to theirs. I believed people nearby us all encountered this issue. This is an unforgiving act of stealing, it belongs and solely to the artist, designer, and the talent individuals. As a part of the community, nobody should be tolerance for such acts.
Hence, this issue shall not be the fear in us to know great good people out there in the cyber world. This week, I would love to share this portrait that I’ve painted for Zi Peng. He is a great adventurer who in love with trying new food, traveling places, and meeting new people. With a great personality that I respect with! Do check out his Instagram!
Don’t you think that they are generous looking? If we would categories cotton for the most comfortable fabric, while velvet will be the most exquisite ones. Believed in your skin, you’ll feel how smooth and silky they are.
Velvet is soft to touch, you’ll need to feel the texture. This distinctive soft pile of woven fabric will definitely make you fall in love with it. Little you know, velvet can be effectively dyed with deep, rich colors – but it also takes very well to softer, more pastel colors too.
Velvet, they are one of our favorite choices for decorating our rooms. Either the rich or the pastel colors, both bring out the highest quality of what it should be!
Consistency is really important is triggering something important to your life. You cannot be successful if you cannot be consistent in doing important things to you . I’ve learned from experience that if you work harder at it, and apply more energy and time to it, and more consistency, you get a better result. It comes from the work.
This is why consistency is what matters the most in triggering something important to your life.
It is okay to have a break but in order for you to achieve what you want, you have to make sure you do it.
“One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”
-Maya Angelou
These days, when I do not need to deal with works, I tried to lead a slow life. I enjoyed waking up in the morning by freshening up myself with a glass of home-pressed juice.
If time allows, I would spend some time in the kitchen to prepare food myself, it’s just wonderful moments. The sound coming from the kitchen, it filled with all the chopping, tapping and peeping sound that came from all sort of equipment and procedure.
Have you experience something like this before? A day you hate it like forever but another day, you just fall in love before you could realize it? It happened to us, especially myself, I used to hate avocado but I just can’t remember when did I already fell in love with it!
My first experience with avocado is quite extraordinary, it’s creamy, oily with a fresh grass taste. However, right now it just a nature taste that I will consume everyday!
Do not underestimate the green little devil! Avocado could make into all kind of dishes and drinks. While we would love to share one of our favorite – the guacamole dip. It’s everyone favorite, even someone like my sister, Joe who wasn’t a huge fan of avocado, she enjoys having her toast, taco chips or cracker with the dip! It’s a must to serve along with the wheat chips when we having a movie night every Friday!
Ingredients |
3 Avocados (halved, seeded and peeled)
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
1 tsp of green pepper tabasco
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
Methods |
In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat. Drain, and reserve the lime juice for later use, till all of the avocados have been coated. Using a potato masher add the salt, cumin, and red pepper, green pepper tabasco, and mash. Then, fold in the onions, and cilantro. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.
Tips from the sisters | While making it, always taste along the way and try if it suits your taste.
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! There will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories and #OurTableStories profile. Please do check it out whenever you can!
Cheers, Darlings! What are you drinking for Happy Hour to celebrate the weekend?
Recall what Jamie Oliver once said, “What I’ve enjoyed most, though, is meeting people who have a real interest in food and sharing ideas with them. Good food is a global thing and I find that there is always something new and amazing to learn – I love it!”
The idea behind it is just so amazing! Definitely, this is one of the reasons, both Joe and I set up this website – to share and met people through what we love and believe in – food and arts.
Also, this is how both April and I have met. Eventually, both of us was connected by food, with ideas of healthy living. Eating is not merely a material pleasure for us. Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of great importance to the morale.
It always a good idea to follow a foodie Instagram page! April, she certainly is such an inspired individual inspiring people through her food and family! Believe or not, she will absolutely cheer your day!
Finally Halloween have come to an end. We both have fun during the Halloween period – all the craft and food, it just brighten up our day. Although Halloween has already ended, but we will still spend the rest of the autumn fully with our heart. We will be enjoying the homemade apple cider with the coffee cup bat sleeve under our warm blanket. Monster’s krispie rice will also be our all time favourite snack for this fall, not only that it is tasty but is yummy to eat too.
Hmm, so now that the Halloween has ended. We are not going to just lay around doing nothing but we will be bring more and exciting inspiration for you.
“Halloween is an opportunity to be really creative.” – Judy Gold
Don’t you think these lightings are trying to seduce you all the time you look at them? While some might not like them like I, however, I believed many just fall in love with them every time they appear! Am I right saying that?
While, looking at these beautiful neon lights, they are like pieces of graphics cut out from the prints. Believe or not, they can be either part of the retro or modern interior designs. In fact, they just match everything and gives your room pop look!
My craving for these stylish lightings, just couldn’t stop as they seem to be part of my living! They give me energy and inspired me daily! Although, normally they served well as a welcoming wall or art pieces at commercial interiors; cafes or bars. But still, who says that it can’t place in our home?
Fall is here so probably it’s time to make your home more cozy and warm. I don’t mean to fire up your radiators but to add some details to your decor that will make it look cozier. For example, you can start with dressing up your cups into some cozy warmers. Some of them are quick and easy to make while for others you should have some skills and free time. Anyway, check them out and start to make your home more cozy for this Halloween! This will be the best mug sleeve for our Homemade Apple Cider drink for this Halloween.
One of the ideas on my boards was a fabric coffee sleeve. It turned out to be a fun and simple sewing project. And, it’s so handy to keep in the office when you go get your coffee so you don’t get yourself burnt! I read an article online that 14 billion cups of coffee are served each year, each wrapped in their own cardboard coffee sleeve. That’s a lot of waste for a piece of cardboard that only gets used for a short time each morning. Why not make your own, unique fabric coffee sleeve to cut back on waste and add some fun color to your white coffee cup!
Since it is Halloween, we also make our cup sleeve into the shape of a bat. This is the best give you can ever make and give it as a gift. It simple and fun to make.
To make one, you’ll need this coffee cup bat sleeve pattern. As when printing any pattern, make sure it doesn’t scale down to print. The pattern should measure 10 3/4″ straight across the top (corner to corner, not on the curve) and 9 1/8″ across the bottom (again, corner to corner). It’s just barely under 3″ wide. I use “borderless printing” in my print options to make sure the pattern prints full size. It is as simple as what I mention above.
Also, I am a huge fan of the $2.70 reusable plastic cup/lid from Starbucks – lightweight, inexpensive, easy to clean and I’m saving, even more, paper.
Even though many people opt to buy insulated travel mugs, but some can’t go in the dishwasher and the cracks and crevices of the slider/flip top lids often don’t get completely clean. Plus, for $2.70 a cup, and a few bucks for supplies to make a DIY reusable felt sleeve, this reusable combo doesn’t get any more budget friendly. Let’s get started!
Place you Coffee Bat Sleeve Template onto your felt, cut fabric using the Coffee Bat Sleeve Template. Cut the Fabric glue of a rectangle.
Iron the 3 pieces together, having the fabric glue at the midden. You can cut out a small piece of fabric for the eyes and mouth or you could spend the time to embroidered them out, like Angela who devoted in embroidery.
And there you have it – your completed coffee sleeve! This project only took us about 30 minutes. Thus, it is not only great for our environment, it makes your cups looking lovely!
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! There will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories profile thus check it out whenever you can!
The sizzling sprinkles on your hand and face. We just love how the fresh mint muddled with fresh lime and lime juice, mixing in the cranberry syrup and crushed ice. Garnish it with a couple of fresh lime and your Halloween soiree is complete. Bloody Cranberries Mojito, would be the most welcoming refreshment being served before parties.
I have to say that I’m never a drinker as compared to Angela but I am a celebrator after all. Therefore, after much discussion, we decide to go with this beautiful bloody cranberries mojito for this Halloween. Our bloody cranberry mojitos are perfect for any nights, especially for this year Halloween’s celebration! They can either be served an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages – it all depend on your preference.
They are tart, sweet, refreshing, and incredibly delicious – everything a good mojito should be. Before I notice, Angela might have already poured in some rum or gin to elevate her glass of drink.
Our recipe is simple and quick, it only calls for a few ingredients that simply be found in yours home. Bloody Cranberries Mojito also gave us the “It’s officially the holidays!” mood. However, obviously in is not.
The blend of mint and cranberry is sublime and the addition of cranberry to a mojito almost makes us want a few more glasses!
Ingredients |
bunch fresh mint, trimmed
1 lime
2 tbsp of lime/lemon juice
2 tbsp of cranberry syrup
1 bottles sparkling water, chilled
Methods |
Using a wooden spoon or crusher, crush the mint with some sugar/sugar syrup in the bottom of a large pitcher.
Following, add in some fresh lime, concentrated lime juice, with cranberry syrup and water.
Lastly but not least, mixed it along with the crushed ice, shake it well before you serve!
Tips from the sisters | For those who prefer an alcoholic drink, you can add in a shot of rum per serving glass. Thus, we suggest you rub on some salt around the glass for a better flavor. Angela highly recommends the
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! There will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories profile. However, please do check it out whenever you can!
Cheers, Darlings! What are you drinking for Happy Hour to celebrate the weekend?
Just a few more days, a new month – November will be right at the corner of our eyes. In this autumn, it is all about Halloween, pumpkin and autumn leaves for me. Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!
We have been sharing a few recipes we made for this Halloween. Including desserts, snacks, drinks and even some decoration, however, what is a party without the main dish?
This Shepherd’s Pie recipe that we’re sharing is inspired by Shepherd’s Pie created by Gordon Ramsay. We have made it similar the way Chef Ramsay makes his thus, in our Shepherd’s pie, there are some slight variances, that has really been love in our home for years now.
Every time we eat this Shepherd’s Pie, it just hits the spot – it’s an ultimate comfort food for our family!
Let’s spend 5 minutes, appreciate that beautiful potato topping right there. Beautiful golden brown tips and the texture is simply amazing, it has a little crunch on the surface, but soft and fluffy on the inside. It almost like a twice baked potato, making me feel guilty for what we had to do next.
This rustic dish definitely isn’t the prettiest dishes at the first look! But what it lacks in it fancy looks, it makes up for with a bold flavor. Worcestershire, red wine, and fresh herbs come out brilliantly in the ground beef mince and vegetable. You have to serve it hot and eat it hot or else it would be a waste!
We would love to share some tips while making the potato mash. Whereas, it all depending on the type of pan or baking bowl that you’re using for the pie. Therefore, we always cook more potatoes and if possible we suggest making extra serving with this Shepherd’s Pie recipe.
It can get a little tricky trying to eyeball the right amount to put on top of the mince. So when in doubt, just scoop more mash and add it to the baking tray!
This Halloween, we are featuring a very special and seriously delicious recipe. It is a new kind of health food dedicated to the simplest of things — a deliciously satisfying, nourishing meal everyone can love; made by people that pay attention to all the necessary steps needed to making a truly chemical-free meal. This Shepherd’s Pie is one of our most popular meals.
Ingredients |
2tbspolive oil
600g lambGround beef substituted is fine
2clovesgarlic
1largeyellow onion
1largecarrot
2sprigsfresh rosemary & thyme
1cupchicken stock
2tbspWorcestershire sauce
8oztomato pasteis fine too
Potato Mash
1.5lbspotatoesabout 5-6 medium potatoes
3/4cupwhole milk
8tbspmelted butter
2wholeegg yolks
5ozfreshly grated parmesan
1tspgranulated garlicoptional
2tspsaltnot needed if using garlic salt
1tsppepper
Methods |
Fill water till it’s about 2 inches higher and bring the water to a boil. Put in the potatoes and cook for about 20-30 minutes.
In a cast iron skillet on medium heat, begin browning your meat. While the meat is browning, mince the thyme and rosemary and garlic. Preheat your oven at 425 at this point as well.
Once your meat is browned (about 5 minutes or so) drain as much juice as possible. The key to a good Shepherd’s pie is keeping the grease down to a minimum. Grate your onion and carrot into the mince. and stir and cook on medium for about 2 minutes.
Stir in your tomato paste, garlic, Worcestershire sauce; about 1 minute. Add fresh thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper. Let this cook down for about 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock and let this cook down for about 15 minutes. You should have reduced the volume by about half. While the mince is cooking, you should start preparing potatoes. Check with a fork, it should easily go through without any resistance. Drain and place in a bowl.
Mash the potatoes, then add egg, milk, granulated garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix in about freshly grated Parmesan. You should have a super thick potato mash. This is important because it helps with spreading, and will make a better pie. Note: If I know the whole batch is going in 1 meal I’ll keep this in a cast iron skillet. It looks a lot more authentic to me in a skillet. With a spatula, spread the potato mash evenly across the skillet covering all your mince. Then, with a fork, fluff the top of the potatoes, and top with the remaining Parmesan. This will give you golden brown bits on top!
Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the mash is a beautiful golden brown. Enjoy!
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! There will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories profile thus check it out whenever you can!
In this cold October, one of our favorite drink for this Halloween is Apple Cider. We love making Slow Cooker Apple Cider because we all love the smell of it simmering throughout the day. This hot apple cider warms you up after an hour or two of kicking around in the fall leaves or picking out that perfect pumpkin or trick-or-treating on a perfectly frosty night when you can see your breath.
I know, I know, by now we’ve all seen a gazillion hot spiced apple cider recipes. But this mulled cider, we thought, it’s special because it takes only four whole ingredients – no special mulling spices required. Plus, it utilizes that wondrous kitchen appliance – the slow cooker – so you don’t have to stand over the stove or worry about keeping it at the perfect temperature once it’s ready to be served. It just sits there on your kitchen counter, being awesome, until everyone happily drinks it all down.
Any unsweetened apple juice works well for this recipe, however, you can cold-press it out using fresh apples . You can get fancy with it and use cranberry juice instead. We like our apple cider on the more tart side, if you want it sweeter you can add in sugar, honey or any sweetener of your choice.
If you are feeling extra ambitious you can serve the hot apple cider in a cup and drizzle it with whip cream and butterscotch. And for the adults, you can add a perfect extra little warming factor: rum.
One thing that’s important, though. What makes love most about homemade apple cider is that you could have total control over the amount of sugar and spice in each batch. For me? Apples are sweet on their own, therefore we didn’t add any sugar to our homemade apple cider. You can modify it to your own taste, so let’s get started!
Ingredients |
1 L – apple juice (unsweetened)
4 cloves
cinnamon sticks
small star anises
1 orange sliced (with peel on)
a sprinkle of nutmeg
Methods |
Pour your apple juice into the slow cooker.
Put the spices into a spice bag and add to the slow cooker (or add straight in and strain before serving)
Add in the orange slices.
Turn the slow cooker on High for 2-3 hours or Low for 4-6 hours.
Take spices out before serving. You may top with whip cream, or add your choice of sweetener if desired.
So, how easy does this sound? And, most importantly, aren’t the cinnamon sticks pretty and the mugs cute? Your house will smell like Fall all day long. And yes, it’s amazing.
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! There will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories profile thus check it out whenever you can!
Craving for some fun during this Halloween? These Monster’s Krispie Rice let me take my candy eye obsession to a whole new level. You get to go a little crazy with them, which I personally think is awesome. These little monsters are so easy to make, and they look so fun when you set them out on a serving plate. It’s like a little monster invasion sitting there on the table.
These Monster’s Krispie Rice are so simple to make, and they’re completely adorable! How fun would they be for a Halloween party? Or even a monster birthday party? You could wrap them individually in some clear cellophane with a ribbon and a cute little tag to send as a Halloween treat to work. So fun!
I am a little bit of a crispy rice treat snob. I like them to be perfectly soft and delicious! It occurred to me that I had a certain way of making them, and specific tricks I use to make them soft and perfectly delicious, so I thought I would share my tricks! I will also share my recipe at the end in case you need a good one! Just a good plain, old fashioned rice krispy cereal and marshmallows. My cooking blog, dedicated to rice krispy treats, does not have a basic rice krispy treat recipe!
Some tips for you when it comes to making this Krispie Treats,
When adding marshmallows and stir continuously over medium heat until they are soft, swollen, and melty, but not completely smooth. The key is to not overcook.
We also like to have some color to the Krispie Treats. Thus we added drops of food gel coloring to the marshmallow mixtures.
Add your cereal to the marshmallow mixture, no more than a couple cups at a time. Instead of stirring to combine, use a repeated motion of folding and smoothing. When I fold. I bring the mixture from the bottom and fold it into the top, middle. then I smooth and lightly flatten the whole top down. Fold, fold, fold, smooth. Make sure you lightly grease your pan as well as anything you will be using to cover it.
So we decided to remedy that today! Here you go peeps, Mallow and CO’s traditional no frills rice krispy treat. These are my basic ratios that I’ve always found to work great for me. But other than that just the good old gooey marshmallows mixed with the iconic rice cereal. Enjoy!
*We used m&m as the replacement for the candy eye, as we couldn’t find it in the baking store.
Methods |
For the Rice Krispie Treats:
Spray a 9″ x 13″ baking pan with cooking spray.
In a large pot, melt the butter over low heat until melted.
Add the marshmallows and stir until completely melted and combined with the butter.
Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract and the Rice Krispies. Stir to combine.
Pour the mixture into the baking pan. Using a spatula sprayed with cooking spray gently press down until the pan is evenly coated.
Allow to cool until firm.
For the Monster Coating:
Melt approximately 1 cup of candy melts in a small bowl in the microwave at 50% power for 1 minute. Stir and then continue microwaving at 50% power for 30 seconds at a time until completely melted.
Add approximately ½ teaspoon to 2 teaspoons cooking oil (the more you add the smoother the finish, but go slowly) to the melted candy melts and stir to combine.
Dip the Rice Krispie Treats in the candy melts and set on parchment paper.
Gently press the candy eyes into the candy melt coating to create your monster faces. Gently push the eyes slightly up towards the top of the monster’s “head” to create upper eye lids.
Allow to cool at room temperature for approximately 40 minutes or until candy melts have completely hardened.
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! There will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories profile thus check it out whenever you can!
When the doctor shares, “an apple a day keep the doctor away”. While all coffee lovers will say, “a coffee a day keeps the grumpy away”!
Little you know, I’m not an apple lover, people may need an apple to keep the doctor away, however, for me, it is a cup of good coffee to cheer me up. Therefore, it helps to kick start my day, and it helps me stay throughout all day long, without feeling grumpy.
Like me, Karen is a huge coffee lover. From her Instagram’s page, she always shares her best shot of different coffee moment. She loves spending quality time at cafes or at home just for a simple moment. I’m huge fans of Karen I must say, she is so talent and such a lovely lady! So joyful and sweet, therefore, I love her interesting perceptive and creativity! They darling yet stylish! For those who doesn’t know, she actually is @mikathejindo mummy!
Follow her on Instagram’s page, she is such an inspired individual! Believe or not, she always cheer my day!
Muhaha~~ Raise your hand if you can tell me what is synonymous with fall. Well, besides the awesome cooler temps and beautiful fall foliage. I’m talking apples, y’all. I love ’em and now’s the best time of year to enjoy them! This baked apples also remind me of the step-mom of Snow White. Whereby she put all the potion in the pot and make a poison apple. You won’t die eating this like Snow White but you will just get addicted to it and wanted more.
So to celebrate fall’s arrival and the start of apple season, I’m sharing thehands downbest-baked apple recipe that I’ve ever eaten.And on a side note, if you’ve never tried Honeycrisp apples, you are definitely missing out. They’re a bit more expensive that other apple varieties, but oh let me tell you – they are so, so worth it.They’re everything that their name implies – sweet and crisp!
When come to choosing apples for this recipes. A relatively new variety, Honeycrisps have a sweet, mellow flavor. They’re very juicy, and when baked long and slow, their juices bubble and caramelize. These baked apples are best served slightly warm, but they are also great served cold for breakfast the next morning, topped with a dollop of yogurt.
Ingredients |
4 – Honeycrisp apples
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup dried raisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
4 tbsp of butter
Methods |
Preheat oven to 200 °C.
Slice approximately 1/3 off of the top of the apples and scoop out the core, leaving a well in the center.
In a bowl, mix brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins and walnuts (using a spoon or fork) until blended.
Stuff each apple with 1/4 of brown sugar mixture.
Place apples in a deep baking dish, topping each apple with 1 tbsp of butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Pour about 1/2″ of water into the baking pan, around the apples, and bake for 50 – 60 minutes, until apples are tender.
Serve warm.
Notes from two sisters | Keep an eye on the water level when baking.Add more water, if needed, to prevent the apples from drying out.
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! There will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories profile thus check it out whenever you can!
This week will be the last week of the October, and people it’s time to celebrate Halloween. A period where the kids knock on your door to get their candy and the adults get ready for some amazing party. While for those prefer to stay at home, you could have fun as well, set up a mini bar for the Halloween night at home and invite family or friends over for horror movie marathon! We have prepared a series of Halloween’s special, where we share with you some food and decoration ideas. Shall we get started!
Did you know that the balloons are the best tools to aid in your decoration in all kind of your gatherings, parties, and events! While the fancy ones are too expensive, the single colored ones might be way too dull. What if you could add in some surprise element to elevate them, what’s better than doing it yourself?
We all know that it’s always a mess when we throw the confetti but they just gives a spark to your parties! Therefore, we decide to combine the two together, this allows us to add more color and make your party more exciting!
By doing it in one flick of the wrist, thus now it’s time to take it back to its original use and party with it. Confetti balloons make an adorable photo prop for all parties and events. It can add a wow factor to the decor at any location. Forget the flower and confetti tossing; all you have to do is pop the balloons to shower the “stars” with confetti!
Halloween is not only about spooky and giving out of candy but it also all about fun! We are going to keep the fun going because we should have a Halloween month as a reward for October. And the most delightfully festive thing in the world are confetti balloons! They seriously put a megawatt smile on everyone’s face. So if you are throwing a party or surprising, someone, I totally recommend confetti balloons…trust me on this one!
Materials Needed |
Colored paper
12″ Clear balloon
Circle stamps cutter
Funnel (optional)
Air pump
Methods |
Most of these items I got at a party store like the 12″ clear balloon and the air pump. I got the clear balloons a few days beforehand and took them home to fill with pre-cut confetti. With the funnel, put in enough confetti to cover the bottom of the balloon. While the balloon is filled with air, the confetti will stay on the bottom so the more you put, the better the confetti will show in the balloon. Rub around the balloon allowing the confetti stick to the side of the balloon. Tie the end in a knot and then tie on a string. Enjoy!
Tips from us |
However, if you’re punching out shapes instead of just cutting bits of paper, punch through the entire stack of colored/ tissue paper at one time. Not only is it a lot faster, but the punch just performs better and makes cleaner cuts when you punch through the whole stack at once. The tissue paper tends to just tear if you try to punch one sheet at a time.
Thus, if you’re having trouble getting the confetti to stick to the sides of the balloons, create a little static electricity by rubbing balloons on the carpet.
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! While, there will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories profile, therefore, check it out whenever you can!
Happy Halloween! Stay tuned for tomorrow for more Halloween special post.
Halloween can be one of the biggest and interesting event of the year. It gives the kids and grownup gets into the spooky fun! Did you know it’s also a season all about pumpkin and autumn leaves? I adore autumn, and it’s time again, people! The parade of pumpkin pies, pancakes, and spiced lattes has begun, proclaiming loudly that fall is here, and Halloween, with its triangle-eyed, orange faces, is right around the corner.
For your autumnal decor to really stand out, the classic jack o’ lantern just doesn’t cut it anymore. From pumpkin patches to pumpkin recipes, to pumpkin carving, this beloved gourd is definitely the “it girl” this season. While a classic carved pumpkin will never go out of style.
Here are some things I love about Autumn that I’m really looking forward to:
Diamonds has always been saying as one of the most precious stone in the world. A diamond doesn’t start out polished and shining. It once was nothing special, but with enough pressure and time, becomes spectacular. I’m that diamond. Every girl need to shine like a diamond in the dark. Don’t be discourage if you are been left alone, or no one know you. It is all this pressure and adventure that you face that make you shine.
“Remember diamonds are created under pressure but hold on it be your time to shine soon.” ― Sope Agbelusi
These black bean burgers have a complex, satisfying flavor and robustly meaty texture that even devout carnivores will love (seriously, try them with bacon on top). The mixture comes together in just 25 minutes and can be used to make patties for cooking either on the backyard grill or indoors in a skillet. Unlike regular burgers, which do best when cooked over extremely high heat, these black bean burgers require a moderate heat so that they can cook through and firm up before the exterior burns.
“You will never want to eat frozen veggie burgers again. These are so easy, and you’ll be proud to have created such a vegetarian delight.”
You might be searching for a vegan burger recipe to take a break from the heaviness associated with eating too much animal protein. So why do most black bean burger recipes still seem heavy? Most of the recipes you will find are a bland mix of beans, grains, and some spices. Our version provides you with an alternative loaded with nutrition and fresh with flavor.
So here’s a question for you: Why does a black bean burger behave so differently from a ground meat burger when you apply heat to it? Cook a hamburger and it changes from being mushy and soft to having a wide variety of textures, with an interior that clings together in springy, juicy clumps, interspersed with pockets of rendered fat and juicy meat. Cook a black bean burger and you may develop a crust on the exterior through dehydration, but the interior remains largely the same: soft, mushy, and uniform.
This recipe isn’t just your basic veggie burger and uses easy-to-digest fresh ingredients and a powerful combination of plant-based protein and fiber. So let’s get started!
Ingredients|
2 cans Black Beans
1 cup Seasoned Breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Grated White Onion
1 whole Egg
1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
Salt And Pepper
Hot Sauce
8 slices Swiss Cheese
Olive Oil, For Frying
Butter, For Frying And Grilling
4 whole Kaiser Rolls Or Good Hamburger Buns
Mayonnaise
Lettuce Or Other Greens
Sliced Tomato
Methods|
Drain, but do not rinse, the black beans. Place them in a bowl and use a fork to mash them. Keep mashing until they’re mostly broken up, but still have some whole beans visible.
Add the breadcrumbs, onion, egg, chili powder, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Stir until everything is combined, then let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.
Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil with an equal amount of butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Form the bean mixture into patties slightly larger than the buns you’re using (the patties will not shrink when they cook.)
Place the patties in the skillet and cook them about 5 minutes on the first side. Flip them to the other side, place 2 slices of cheese onto each patty, and continue cooking them for another 5 minutes, or until the burgers are heated through. (Place a lid on the skillet to help the cheese melt if needed.)
Grill the buns on a griddle with a little butter until golden. Spread the buns with mayonnaise and hot sauce, then place the patties on the buns. Top with lettuce and tomato, then pop on the lids!
Speaking of which, what are you guys up to this weekend? Anyone have fun cookout/camping plans? Any fun summer kick-off parties? Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! There will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories profile thus check it out whenever you can!
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us? We often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. Nevertheless, I’m also very thankful for those who dislike me as they taught me the lessons from the hardest ways. They help me becoming a better person through my journey; as we all just seeking for a better resolution to move on.
However, I especially want to thanks, those stay by my side. I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let’s face it, forgiving make life a lot more fun.
When you invite your guest into your house, the first impression is very important. Nonetheless, you are worried about the plain walls you have in your house. Having frames to decorate your room is always a good idea to elevate your house. Displaying your favorite art collection or photographs it just inserts your thoughts into your walls. Those frames can be small or huge while sometimes you can hang on the wall or just put on the floor. They have no rules, therefore, that is the time where you have to put in your creative thought.
Why not get on your feet and look around for some interesting ideas to put in frames? Happy Monday!
Yesterday night I just have a mini Harry Potter movie marathon. I wishes that it is real, that there is really magic in the world. Although, there will be people screaming at me (my mom). To stop dreaming and thinking thing that is so useless as it will never come true.
To me there is no fault to dream. Everyone need it everyday, it’s a necessities. It is one of the thing that help you to move forward to our everyday life. Living in a dreamless place, it’s like living in a zombie body. Simply to say it is lifeless.
“Dreams are necessary. Like the air, without realizing it, I, you, and we all need dreams. The dreams that guide us on what we do today because today is the answer to our dreams the other day.” ― Alanda Kariza
Milkshakes have been such a fantasy to me since young, from a classic milkshake that you bought from McDonald in the olden day to a fancy jumbo milkshakes at cafes these days! They are just unbelievable tasty with a thick creamy texture, smoothie and you just never want to stop.
That means this is a vanilla base milkshake made with bits of Oreo Cookie and homemade Oreo cream filling!!! Yeah, the good stuff in the middle! Then it’s topped with MORE homemade cream filling, some more Oreo cookie bits, whipped cream, and more Oreo cookies! It’s pretty much all of your daily calories in one milkshake. Again, I’m sorry.
This is a nice thick milkshake. And cover the top with whipped cream, finely chopped Oreo cookies and shaved chocolate. It is a thick milkshake, it’s easier to drink this way. YUM! I love this. I don’t know why but ice cream is seriously better with Oreo cookies.
How do you eat an Oreo cookie? Are you a dunk-it-in-milk eater? Break it in half and lick off the cream filling? Break it in half, eat the side without the cream filling before eating the good side? Or do you just bite it? Or perhaps one bite?
Ready to make your own milkshakes? Here’s the recipe for the milkshake which also includes the recipe for making homemade Oreo cream filling:
Ingredients|
4 large scoops premium vanilla ice cream
3 Oreo cookies, divided
3 tablespoons milk, cold
1 tablespoon chocolate syrup, optional
1 Oreo cookie, divided and finely chopped
Methods|
Start by finely chop the Oreo into crumbs, set aside a bit for decoration.
Then prepare the glass by adding 1 tablespoon of chocolate syrup and cover the lower part of the glass with the syrup. Chocolate syrup is optional but it’s a nice way to serve. Set aside.
In a blender, add in 4 large scoops of vanilla ice cream and 3 divided Oreo cookies, so it’s 6 disks, and 3 tablespoons of cold milk.
And pulse and/or blend until homogeneous. Top it with whipped cream, finely chopped Oreo cookies and shaved chocolate. Served.
Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! There will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories profile thus check it out whenever you can!
Happy Cooking!
“Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.” quoted by Martin Luther
Truly, music just allows me to immerse myself into a different dimension. It allows me to stop thinking and just enjoy the music. It gives me a moment of just my own time.Therefore, that’s why Borja inspired me in every way, he is a musician, an artist based Spain. His style in his photography and music truly fun.
Support Siberian Wolves, their latest online records by clicking the link!
Gathering inspiration is part of my daily routine for everyday work. Personally, I love searching around for inspirations through books, physical objects and scrolling on all the interesting web page. I love to look at different artists and designers out there and enjoyed looking into other’s perceptive. It’s up to your surprise that you will see a different world from your own.
Therefore, every week I have discover a new inspiration but this week I have something interesting for you. Look what I have discovered for this week – Axel Oswith and Amanda Kusai are the brains behind The Taable – a multidisciplinary creative hub devoted to art direction and photography.
I’ve fallen in love with them instantly, especially with their creative compositions they used in their work. They are designers currently living in Jakarta, Indonesia. They have devoted themselves to art direction and photography and their works are the minimal compositions of clever concepts. I enjoyed the thoughts they put in each shot.
Why not have a look at their work and cheer your Monday blues away!
Ever hear of the Butterfly Effect? It is the idea that the flap of a tiny insect wing yields large influences at a later state. Such as helping determine the path of a hurricane. In the weather system of your life, who knows what might be a butterfly wing?
One thing we do know is that everything great starts small. Every big dream needs small focus. There is no effort too minuscule, no goal too little, no intention too humble to make a big difference in the world.
Serving steak in our home is all time favorite, we are all beef lovers. That why, making a good steak is essential to make your loved one happy! We studied and practice numerous of time in order to achieve the taste you will in love with. Eating steak is just least a couple of making it, just like the cooking them. But
When you cook them well, they are tender and juicy and I promised that one is never enough. However a classic Beef Burger is high in calories, therefore we decide to make our very own healthy choice. We decided to choose the seasonal fruit – peach. It is sweet and juicy as compared to the onion.
Before we start to make the beef patties, let’s begin with the supporting roles. Getting the buns, mozzarella, peach and spinach ready is essential as they serve an important role, elevate the taste of the burger.
Beginning with the peach and spinach ready by washing them and dried away the water. Then we move on by frying the mozzarella, whereby we coated the mozzarella with egg and breadcrumb mix. We when on preparing the grilled peach. Before grilling the peach, we glaze it with honey and brown sugar to make it brown and glossy.
First of all, the colors and flavors just make me happy. These burgers are so bright and fresh, while still maintaining their hearty deliciousness. We have been dying to show you these burgers, but wanted to wait until closer to fall. So let’s get started!
Ingredients |
Balsamic Drizzle
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar (optional)
Burgers
1 pound ground beef (I like to use organic 80/20 beef)
smoked salt, chipotle salt or just salt + pepper, for sprinkling
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
12 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced into 8 thick round slices
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt + pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large nectarines or peaches, ripe, but firm peaches, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds*
1 tablespoon honey or brown sugar
4 brioche or pretzel buns, toasted (use gluten free if needed)
Methods |
Balsamic Drizzle
Add vinegar and brown sugar, if using, to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a very low simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes, until liquid reduces by about half and is slightly syrupy. Remove from heat, pour vinegar in a bowl or glass to pour, and set aside to cool and thicken.
Burgers
Divide the meat into 4 sections and form into 4 patties (or make 8 slider size burgers). Place the patties on a plate. Drizzle the burgers with balsamic vinegar.
In a large bowl, combine the Panko, flour, parmesan, salt, pepper and cayenne, mixing thoroughly to combine. In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Take each slice of fresh mozzarella and coat it in the beaten egg. Then, dredge it through the bread crumb mix by pressing on both sides to adhere. Repeat with the remaining slices.
Drizzle the peaches with honey (or sprinkle with brown sugar).
Preheat the grill or a grill pan to medium high heat, once hot, season the burgers with salt and pepper and then grill until your desired doneness. About 4-5 minutes per side for medium rare. Remove the burgers from the grill and and cover with foil to allow the burgers to rest while you fry the mozzarella.
Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil and sear both sides of the peaches for 1 to 2 minutes until just warmed, but still somewhat firm. Alternately you can also grill the peaches directly on the grill.
Add the remaining olive oil to the skillet and when hot, fry the coated mozzarella, turning carefully once or twice, until golden and cheese begins to melt but still retains its shape, about 1 minute on each side. Drain on paper towels.
To assemble, divide the burgers among buns. Top with a couple fresh basil leaves, a slice of fried mozzarella and a couple slices of caramelized peaches. Drizzle with balsamic glaze. Add the top bun.
Speaking of which, what are you guys up to this weekend? Anyone have fun cookout/camping plans? Any fun summer kick-off parties? Please make them and take a photo, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to yours! There will be more exclusive stories on our #stellerstories profile thus check it out whenever you can!
You will say “no” for anything but you will never ever resist a Beef Burger like us!
Happy Cooking!
While getting a human portrait done has been difficult, I would say getting an animal’s portrait done is even challenging for me. We all know that they have a lot of furs, unlike having the fine smooth skin like us, it requires more time to detailing their feature.
And our beloved Mika, she is just one beautiful 2-year-old Jindo pup from Dallas. She is adorable and creative just like her mom @karen.lao! For the years I have followed their journey they have never failed to surprise me with their loveliness. Just wish that you will like her like I do!
Mauve is the second-highest trending color, according to Pinterest, so hit two birds with one stone by introducing some mauve accents into your gray décor. Trust us when we say they match.
At the moment I am truly loving gray and mauve. The two hues are not harsh, but rather very soothing, natural and organic. These two hues, interestingly enough do not look quiet bad paired up against one another. Room that is overloaded with a massive amount of bright colors can use mauve acting as a balancing color. The two colors can also help tone things down a bit in a room. Pinks and purplish pinks are lovely colors for decorating girls’ bedrooms and baby girls’ nurseries. So, what are your feelings on mauve?
Date | 4th September 2016
Starting Point – Ending Point | Bukit Timah Visitor Centre – Singapore Quarry Wetland
Duration | 3 hrs
The beginning of last month, instead of two of us, we get new companies. We put on our trekking shoes and meet up early in the morning at Beauty World MRT Station. The long waited for the hiking trip to Bukit Timah Hill. With the research, we found out that Bukit Timah Summit it’s one of the easy trails for the beginners.
Bukit Timah Hill is Singapore’s highest hill. At 163m, some might not associate the climb up as hiking. But this hill will still make you breathless and your heart pounds faster. Well, it’s easy for our new hiking friends Joe and Mai but not Fatin and I. We truly believed that we had bad stamina, the steep slope have given us a huge impact for the first 5 minutes. It’s so different for the flat path we been through during our last trip.
Tips for you;
The proper way to ascend a hill (same for mountain) is slow and easy if our body cannot acclimatize to new heights even athletes will succumb to fatigue.
Some folks will be running up and down the steps, keep one side to avoid injury and falls to you or them.
After climbing the endless stairs, we finally reached the top, Once you reached the summit everything just worth it. We reached the summit in less than 40 minutes and we decide to keep on moving to our next challenge – Singapore Quarry Wetland. However, we did have a hard time searching for our way especially, we met some monkeys, a lady who pointed us a wrong way where we wasted a lot of time searching.
After an hour of wandering about, thanks to my teammates we are heading a right direction – without them I might head back home. The journey was long but with them, by my side, I’m able to hang in there.
Along the way to Singapore Quarry Wetland, if you pay attention you will see some really interesting plants around. The curiosities of mine just make me so playful wanting to touch everything I see, just like a little explorer wandering in the jungle.
Question | What’s the biggest takeaway from hiking?
Fatin: Definitely perseverance. There’s always that voice in my head that keeps saying “I can’t do this anymore” the entire journey. There are times when I feel like giving up and throw in the towel. But then I’ll think again and tell myself that I’m already halfway through the journey. If I turn back and give up, all of my effort to make it that far would go to waste. So I’ll tell myself to keep going and just take a step at a time cause it will be worth it in the end.
Angela: Getting to know me better. My mind has been strong willed since young but little I know that my stamina is up for different challenges too. I always think that I have the worst stamina among the all of them but with friends on the trek, I’m able to push myself a higher level each time. I believed that next challenge would be better
Joe: Teamwork is something I gain during this hiking. I believe that if I was alone, I won’t be able to finish this trip. It’s only all the encouragement and support I then have the energy and right mind to conquer it. Thus I am able to see the beautiful view of Singapore Quarry Wetland. “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”.
Question | What’s an essential item you must bring?
Fatin: Water bottle. Never leave home or start hiking without one. You’ll need it.
Angela: Towel. Actually, I couldn’t decide in between water or towel. As I tried not to drink too much water during the hiking as I’m worried that I couldn’t find any restroom in the middle of the woods. Towel, because I sweat a lot!
Joe: Phone. We almost got lost in the wood due to a wrong guidance from a lady. Therefore, it’s good to have one just in case. You can use it to listen to music and capture amazing photos. For me, I use it to catch some rare Pokemon.
#BehindPlainCanvas |
It was humid, long journey with the steep hill. While catching my breath, we sort of lost our way due to a kind lady who shared with us wrong information. We climbed up-and-down the stairs that were so tall, which required more energy than a normal day. There was recontraction undergoing everywhere but we met new people along our way!
I’m almost breathless every second but this might be our most fun hiking yet. Being with friends make the whole journey so much happier – which it filled with joy and laughter. No matter if it rain or you lost your way, being together we discover places together.
We hope that all of you will continue to support this column, for those who love hiking please share with us your hiking stories by tagging us on Instagram and hashtag #ourhikingstories. We love to know more about yours!
This week I would love to share with you some amazing work desk or studio inspiration I have in mind. I love eye-pleasing, organized space and of course, it must be practical yet attractive! With having a messy studio is annoying for me as I couldn’t concentrate, and most of the time I would have brian-block.
The enthusiasm with this year Pantone announcement it is just beyond amazing yet. While going through those shades, we decided to select several to share with you folks. Apart from the love with Greenery, there’s another colour we love this season.
